WebProNews

The Yahoo Search web services platform Build your Own Search Service, aka BOSS, opens Yahoo's index to programmers.

Developers received another gift from Yahoo as part of its ongoing Open Strategy. There's no skimping on Yahoo's part, as they opened their index via an API for external developers to access.

The big difference between BOSS and other search API products comes from Yahoo's decision to truly open that access. The Yahoo Search blog said there are no rate limits on the number of queries per day.

Developers picked up access to Yahoo's web, news, and image search indexes with the launch of BOSS. Yahoo promised to make other verticals available in the future.

"In the coming months, we'll be launching a monetization platform for BOSS that will enable Yahoo to expand its ad network and enable BOSS partners to jointly participate in the compelling economics of search," Yahoo said.

Several sites have been testing the access available with BOSS prior to this announcement. Me.dium, Hakia, Daylife, and Cluuz show how some firms put BOSS to use.

Yahoo Research's Prabhakar Raghavan said on the official Yahoo blog the debut of BOSS should open a "wave of search innovation beyond any one of today’s search principals." Programmers will find more details on Yahoo's developer site for BOSS.