May 15, 2008

Yahoo's SearchMonkey Open for Developers, Launches Contest

Recently, Yahoo announced SearchMonkey, which will allow developers access to open source to create applications for search results. Well, today is the day that developers finally get their hands on the tools to make that happen.

There are two types of applications developers can build using SearchMonkey – Enhanced Results and Infobars.

  • Enhanced Results take the current standard results and give them a makeover with a richer display. Links to results must remain intact (don't mess with those search results!).
  • Infobars will appear below search results and can display information such as metadata about the result, related links or content, or links for user actions (i.e. adding a movie to a Netflix queue).

The process for building SearchMonkey applications is very straightforward:

1. Application Type – Decide what type of app you want to build (Enhanced Result or Infobar) and enter basic info such as application name, description, and icon.

2. Trigger URLs – Decide the URL patterns that will trigger your app. For example, for the Enhanced Result above, the pattern would be “acmemovies.com/*”

3. Data Services – Data Services are the structured data on which SearchMonkey apps are based. They can be created using data available in the Yahoo! Search index (via data feeds or page mark-up such as microformats or RDF) or by using APIs or page extraction.

4. Appearance - Use PHP to configure how structured data should appear in the application.

Need incentive? How does a contest with $10,000 in prizes? Submit your application by June 14th to enter. The contest has four categories: Best Enhanced Result, Best Infobar, Most Innovative Use of Structured Data, Best Data Service, and Grand Prize (best over all categories).

And if you're in the Bay Area, catch the SearchMonkey Launch Party tonight at Yahoo's Headquarters in Sunnyvale.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 13, 2008

Yahoo to Begin Indexing Microformats

As part of its move toward a more open search platform, Yahoo announced today that it will begin supporting microformats and other semantic Web standards. Site owners can markup pages with microformats like hCard, hCalendar, hReview, hAtom and XFN to the HTML code on a page, or create structured feeds using RDF.

By implementing these open standards, site owners can classify certain elements on the page as contact information, events, reviews, episodic content, etc. Yahoo can take the structured content and more easily incorporate it into their index.

Sites like LinkedIn are already using microformats, but there is currently no incentive for site owners to do so, according to Amit Kumar, director of product management for Yahoo Search.

"The data is already there, we just need to give people a reason to identify it. Content owners want to expose their structured data, but so far there's been no killer consumer application giving them a reason to do it. Search can be that killer app," Kumar said.

By marking up a page with microformats, Yahoo can better index the content and its relationship to other parts of the site. Yahoo will then be able to surface that content in more relevant ways, such as with the upcoming "Search Monkey" platform that will allow site owners to build plug-ins for Yahoo Search that will enhance the site owner's listing in Yahoo's search results.

Search Monkey will be the first use of structured data by Yahoo, but they could potentially be used to affect other parts of the search results or ranking algorithms in the future, according to Kumar. Yahoo will provide more details at an upcoming developer conference it's planning in the coming weeks.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:00 AM | Permalink

March 4, 2008

Yahoo Makes Big Push In India

Yahoo "announced the expansion of its India R&D operations with the launch of Yahoo! Labs - Bangalore, its first in India. Dr. Rajeev Rastogi will be vice president and head of the new lab.

Yahoo! Labs - Bangalore "will be a focused on making the Web more relevant and simple for users and advertisers. Rastogi was appointed to assemble a world-class team of scientists and engineers to focus on new approaches to information extraction and machine learning, multimedia and query processing," Yahoo announced.

"Yahoo! Labs - Bangalore intends to build its world-class team, which is focused on delivering the most valuable insights and leading edge technologies to delight all of our customers worldwide," said Dr. Prabhakar Raghavan, SVP and Head of Yahoo! Research. "Rajeev's background and expertise in product development, as well as his deep experience in research will strengthen our leadership in international research and technology and leverage knowledge from across the region," the company press release stated.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:43 AM | Permalink

October 2, 2006

Yahoo Hack Day's Success & Yahoo Mail API Coming

It sounds like Yahoo's first open Hack Day was a big success, featuring even a performance by Beck. Yahoo's Bradley Horowitz has a nice roundup in Yahoo Open Hack Day: Hell Yes!. TechCrunch's Michael Arrington served at MC of the event, and All Women Team Takes Yahoo Hack Day Top Prize post covers the top winners, briefly. Meanwhile, Yahoo Mail introduces web APIs from Niall Kennedy covers how a new API for Yahoo Mail is coming, with commentary from others here on TechMeme.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:42 AM | Permalink

September 29, 2006

Yahoo Hack Day Starts Today

Yahoo is holding Hack Day today and Yahoo's Jeremy Zawodny is excited about it. He compiled a list of ways to stay on the new hacks, mashups and products announced at Yahoo's Hack Day. He has encouraged everyone writing content about this event to tag your content as "hackday06". Hack Day photos tagged at Flickr, content bookmarked at del.ici.us, other content at Technorati and some more here. Also, note, the Hack Day blog is at http://developer.yahoo.net/hackday/.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:45 AM | Permalink

August 16, 2006

Yahoo Releases Yahoo Answers API

The Yahoo Search Blog announced the release of the Yahoo Answers API. The API will allow developers to pull questions from the Yahoo Answers database by search, category, and user. You can even get the answers for those questions. More details at http://developer.yahoo.com/answers/.

Postscript: Jeremy Zawodny suggests to me that the Yahoo Answers API will soon allow writing to the Yahoo Answers database, and not just read only access. Niche answer social networks, here we come?

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:46 AM | Permalink

December 8, 2005

Yahoo Releases International Web Search Services; Yahoo Switzerland Search Goes Live

Here's one for the developers out there. Yahoo's Toby Elliott points out that the comany has just released the Yahoo Web Search API for all regional and country sites. The blog post has all the specifics. Briefly, here's what you'll learn.

+ You can now use the Web Search API to access the Yahoo UK Search, Yahoo France Search, Yahoo Germany Search and all the other available country-specific engines.

+ Yahoo Japan has made a Web Search API available in Japanese.

+ Yahoo Switzerland Search has just launched. Web services available soon.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:27 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Releases International Web Search Services; Yahoo Switzerland Search Goes Live

Here's one for the developers out there. Yahoo's Toby Elliott points out that the comany has just released the Yahoo Web Search API for all regional and country sites. The blog post has all the specifics. Briefly, here's what you'll learn.

+ You can now use the Web Search API to access the Yahoo UK Search, Yahoo France Search, Yahoo Germany Search and all the other available country-specific engines.

+ Yahoo Japan has made a Web Search API available in Japanese.

+ Yahoo Switzerland Search has just launched. Web services available soon.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:27 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Releases International Web Search Services; Yahoo Switzerland Search Goes Live

Here's one for the developers out there. Yahoo's Toby Elliott points out that the comany has just released the Yahoo Web Search API for all regional and country sites. The blog post has all the specifics. Briefly, here's what you'll learn.

+ You can now use the Web Search API to access the Yahoo UK Search, Yahoo France Search, Yahoo Germany Search and all the other available country-specific engines.

+ Yahoo Japan has made a Web Search API available in Japanese.

+ Yahoo Switzerland Search has just launched. Web services available soon.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:27 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Releases International Web Search Services; Yahoo Switzerland Search Goes Live

Here's one for the developers out there. Yahoo's Toby Elliott points out that the comany has just released the Yahoo Web Search API for all regional and country sites. The blog post has all the specifics. Briefly, here's what you'll learn.

+ You can now use the Web Search API to access the Yahoo UK Search, Yahoo France Search, Yahoo Germany Search and all the other available country-specific engines.

+ Yahoo Japan has made a Web Search API available in Japanese.

+ Yahoo Switzerland Search has just launched. Web services available soon.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:27 PM | Permalink

November 15, 2005

Yahoo Debuts the Shoposphere

Traditionally, shopping search has revolved around providing product information and expert reviews, occasionally supplemented by reviews from customers that are often of dubious value. Yahoo is extending shopping search today by adding a number of new community-oriented tools that allow users to search for other user's product recommendations, as well as comment on them and rate them, adding a new layer of information to the mix. It's an interesting approach, and one that's likely to be quite popular in the shopping search arena. More in today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Personalizes Shopping, Adds Community Features.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Debuts the Shoposphere

Traditionally, shopping search has revolved around providing product information and expert reviews, occasionally supplemented by reviews from customers that are often of dubious value. Yahoo is extending shopping search today by adding a number of new community-oriented tools that allow users to search for other user's product recommendations, as well as comment on them and rate them, adding a new layer of information to the mix. It's an interesting approach, and one that's likely to be quite popular in the shopping search arena. More in today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Personalizes Shopping, Adds Community Features.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Debuts the Shoposphere

Traditionally, shopping search has revolved around providing product information and expert reviews, occasionally supplemented by reviews from customers that are often of dubious value. Yahoo is extending shopping search today by adding a number of new community-oriented tools that allow users to search for other user's product recommendations, as well as comment on them and rate them, adding a new layer of information to the mix. It's an interesting approach, and one that's likely to be quite popular in the shopping search arena. More in today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Personalizes Shopping, Adds Community Features.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Debuts the Shoposphere

Traditionally, shopping search has revolved around providing product information and expert reviews, occasionally supplemented by reviews from customers that are often of dubious value. Yahoo is extending shopping search today by adding a number of new community-oriented tools that allow users to search for other user's product recommendations, as well as comment on them and rate them, adding a new layer of information to the mix. It's an interesting approach, and one that's likely to be quite popular in the shopping search arena. More in today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Personalizes Shopping, Adds Community Features.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:00 AM | Permalink

August 2, 2005

Yahoo Shopping API Now Available

News from the Yahoo Developer Network today that they've just released an API for Yahoo Shopping. Details and documentation are posted here.

With the Product Search API, developers can search by keyword (product names); limit the search to a specific merchant, price range or product category, and filter merchants according to their Yahoo! User ratings. The Price Comparison Grid API gives developers access to millions of products offered by multiple merchants, returning base price, tax and shipping info and total price (based on zip code).

Posted by Gary Price at 1:16 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Shopping API Now Available

News from the Yahoo Developer Network today that they've just released an API for Yahoo Shopping. Details and documentation are posted here.

With the Product Search API, developers can search by keyword (product names); limit the search to a specific merchant, price range or product category, and filter merchants according to their Yahoo! User ratings. The Price Comparison Grid API gives developers access to millions of products offered by multiple merchants, returning base price, tax and shipping info and total price (based on zip code).

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:16 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Shopping API Now Available

News from the Yahoo Developer Network today that they've just released an API for Yahoo Shopping. Details and documentation are posted here.

With the Product Search API, developers can search by keyword (product names); limit the search to a specific merchant, price range or product category, and filter merchants according to their Yahoo! User ratings. The Price Comparison Grid API gives developers access to millions of products offered by multiple merchants, returning base price, tax and shipping info and total price (based on zip code).

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:16 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Shopping API Now Available

News from the Yahoo Developer Network today that they've just released an API for Yahoo Shopping. Details and documentation are posted here.

With the Product Search API, developers can search by keyword (product names); limit the search to a specific merchant, price range or product category, and filter merchants according to their Yahoo! User ratings. The Price Comparison Grid API gives developers access to millions of products offered by multiple merchants, returning base price, tax and shipping info and total price (based on zip code).

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:16 PM | Permalink

June 6, 2005

Spam Spotted on Yahoo Developer Network Wiki

One of the great things about wikis is that anyone can easily contribute. At the same time, the ability for anyone to contribute can also cause problems. While reviewing a page on the Yahoo Developer Network wiki this morning, I noticed that sometime over the weekend some "wiki spam" with links to purchase drugs (like Viagra) appeared on the page. Of course, it just might be that some YDN member is working on a way to search Yahoo and take care of "other problems" at the same time. (-: (-: (-:

Update: The spam has been removed. Here's a screen cap of what I saw earlier.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Spam Spotted on Yahoo Developer Network Wiki

One of the great things about wikis is that anyone can easily contribute. At the same time, the ability for anyone to contribute can also cause problems. While reviewing a page on the Yahoo Developer Network wiki this morning, I noticed that sometime over the weekend some "wiki spam" with links to purchase drugs (like Viagra) appeared on the page. Of course, it just might be that some YDN member is working on a way to search Yahoo and take care of "other problems" at the same time. (-: (-: (-:

Update: The spam has been removed. Here's a screen cap of what I saw earlier.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Spam Spotted on Yahoo Developer Network Wiki

One of the great things about wikis is that anyone can easily contribute. At the same time, the ability for anyone to contribute can also cause problems. While reviewing a page on the Yahoo Developer Network wiki this morning, I noticed that sometime over the weekend some "wiki spam" with links to purchase drugs (like Viagra) appeared on the page. Of course, it just might be that some YDN member is working on a way to search Yahoo and take care of "other problems" at the same time. (-: (-: (-:

Update: The spam has been removed. Here's a screen cap of what I saw earlier.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Spam Spotted on Yahoo Developer Network Wiki

One of the great things about wikis is that anyone can easily contribute. At the same time, the ability for anyone to contribute can also cause problems. While reviewing a page on the Yahoo Developer Network wiki this morning, I noticed that sometime over the weekend some "wiki spam" with links to purchase drugs (like Viagra) appeared on the page. Of course, it just might be that some YDN member is working on a way to search Yahoo and take care of "other problems" at the same time. (-: (-: (-:

Update: The spam has been removed. Here's a screen cap of what I saw earlier.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:11 AM | Permalink

April 7, 2005

Browse Yahoo Images with First Floor Image Search; Lenssen Releases New Version of FindForward

Here's a neat and new image search/browse tool from a company called First Floor Software that uses the Yahoo Image Search API.

First Floor Image Search allows you search/browse (50 images at a time), increase/reduce and rotate images. It works with Firefox or IE.

Since we're on the Yahoo API beat... Philipp L. has just released a new version his FindForward search tool that displays the "Related Queries" (via the Yahoo API) to the right side of the organic search results. Lenssen also developed the Yahoo Auto-Linker that Danny blogged about last week.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

Browse Yahoo Images with First Floor Image Search; Lenssen Releases New Version of FindForward

Here's a neat and new image search/browse tool from a company called First Floor Software that uses the Yahoo Image Search API.

First Floor Image Search allows you search/browse (50 images at a time), increase/reduce and rotate images. It works with Firefox or IE.

Since we're on the Yahoo API beat... Philipp L. has just released a new version his FindForward search tool that displays the "Related Queries" (via the Yahoo API) to the right side of the organic search results. Lenssen also developed the Yahoo Auto-Linker that Danny blogged about last week.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

Browse Yahoo Images with First Floor Image Search; Lenssen Releases New Version of FindForward

Here's a neat and new image search/browse tool from a company called First Floor Software that uses the Yahoo Image Search API.

First Floor Image Search allows you search/browse (50 images at a time), increase/reduce and rotate images. It works with Firefox or IE.

Since we're on the Yahoo API beat... Philipp L. has just released a new version his FindForward search tool that displays the "Related Queries" (via the Yahoo API) to the right side of the organic search results. Lenssen also developed the Yahoo Auto-Linker that Danny blogged about last week.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

Browse Yahoo Images with First Floor Image Search; Lenssen Releases New Version of FindForward

Here's a neat and new image search/browse tool from a company called First Floor Software that uses the Yahoo Image Search API.

First Floor Image Search allows you search/browse (50 images at a time), increase/reduce and rotate images. It works with Firefox or IE.

Since we're on the Yahoo API beat... Philipp L. has just released a new version his FindForward search tool that displays the "Related Queries" (via the Yahoo API) to the right side of the organic search results. Lenssen also developed the Yahoo Auto-Linker that Danny blogged about last week.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

March 7, 2005

A Week After Launch, Yahoo Search Developer Network Lists More than 20 Applications

It's been about one week since Yahoo launched the Yahoo! Search Developer Network with several APIs for web developers to use. I was just perusing the YSDN Wiki and found this page with links to more than 20 applications that have been submitted in the past week. Here are just of the apps I plan on checking out:

+ WebClust, Clustering Web Engine

+ Link Popularity Checker using PHP and Yahoo API

+ Firefox Search Sidebar

+ gvcard: Yahoo Local -> vCard

+ Yahoo Keyword Tracker

A complete and expanding list of apps is located here.

Posted by Gary Price at 3:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

A Week After Launch, Yahoo Search Developer Network Lists More than 20 Applications

It's been about one week since Yahoo launched the Yahoo! Search Developer Network with several APIs for web developers to use. I was just perusing the YSDN Wiki and found this page with links to more than 20 applications that have been submitted in the past week. Here are just of the apps I plan on checking out:

+ WebClust, Clustering Web Engine

+ Link Popularity Checker using PHP and Yahoo API

+ Firefox Search Sidebar

+ gvcard: Yahoo Local -> vCard

+ Yahoo Keyword Tracker

A complete and expanding list of apps is located here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

A Week After Launch, Yahoo Search Developer Network Lists More than 20 Applications

It's been about one week since Yahoo launched the Yahoo! Search Developer Network with several APIs for web developers to use. I was just perusing the YSDN Wiki and found this page with links to more than 20 applications that have been submitted in the past week. Here are just of the apps I plan on checking out:

+ WebClust, Clustering Web Engine

+ Link Popularity Checker using PHP and Yahoo API

+ Firefox Search Sidebar

+ gvcard: Yahoo Local -> vCard

+ Yahoo Keyword Tracker

A complete and expanding list of apps is located here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

A Week After Launch, Yahoo Search Developer Network Lists More than 20 Applications

It's been about one week since Yahoo launched the Yahoo! Search Developer Network with several APIs for web developers to use. I was just perusing the YSDN Wiki and found this page with links to more than 20 applications that have been submitted in the past week. Here are just of the apps I plan on checking out:

+ WebClust, Clustering Web Engine

+ Link Popularity Checker using PHP and Yahoo API

+ Firefox Search Sidebar

+ gvcard: Yahoo Local -> vCard

+ Yahoo Keyword Tracker

A complete and expanding list of apps is located here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

March 1, 2005

Yahoo Search Makes APIs Publicly Available

Danny, Chris and I are here in NY at SES but we're still trying to post items to the blog. Here's some big news (especially for the developers out there) from Yahoo!

Yahoo! Search application programming interfaces (APIs) are now publicly available from the just announced Yahoo Search Developer Network.

The YSDN features Yahoo! Search APIs which span Web search verticals, search engine marketing and direct advertising products including:

+ Web Search + Image Search + Video Search + News Search + Local Search + Spelling Correction + Related Searches + Overture

APIs enable developers and webmasters to easily create search-enabled applications that leverage Yahoo! Search Technology. Each API provides developers with access to 5,000 queries per day per day. In addition to providing web search services, the Yahoo Search Developer Network provides public access to the APIs the Overture division of Yahoo! has provided to its partners since 2001.

I'm sure Jerry Yang will have more to say about the YSDN when he chats with Danny during a keynote "interview" later today.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

Yahoo Search Makes APIs Publicly Available

Danny, Chris and I are here in NY at SES but we're still trying to post items to the blog. Here's some big news (especially for the developers out there) from Yahoo!

Yahoo! Search application programming interfaces (APIs) are now publicly available from the just announced Yahoo Search Developer Network.

The YSDN features Yahoo! Search APIs which span Web search verticals, search engine marketing and direct advertising products including:

+ Web Search + Image Search + Video Search + News Search + Local Search + Spelling Correction + Related Searches + Overture

APIs enable developers and webmasters to easily create search-enabled applications that leverage Yahoo! Search Technology. Each API provides developers with access to 5,000 queries per day per day. In addition to providing web search services, the Yahoo Search Developer Network provides public access to the APIs the Overture division of Yahoo! has provided to its partners since 2001.

I'm sure Jerry Yang will have more to say about the YSDN when he chats with Danny during a keynote "interview" later today.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

Yahoo Search Makes APIs Publicly Available

Danny, Chris and I are here in NY at SES but we're still trying to post items to the blog. Here's some big news (especially for the developers out there) from Yahoo!

Yahoo! Search application programming interfaces (APIs) are now publicly available from the just announced Yahoo Search Developer Network.

The YSDN features Yahoo! Search APIs which span Web search verticals, search engine marketing and direct advertising products including:

+ Web Search + Image Search + Video Search + News Search + Local Search + Spelling Correction + Related Searches + Overture

APIs enable developers and webmasters to easily create search-enabled applications that leverage Yahoo! Search Technology. Each API provides developers with access to 5,000 queries per day per day. In addition to providing web search services, the Yahoo Search Developer Network provides public access to the APIs the Overture division of Yahoo! has provided to its partners since 2001.

I'm sure Jerry Yang will have more to say about the YSDN when he chats with Danny during a keynote "interview" later today.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

Yahoo Search Makes APIs Publicly Available

Danny, Chris and I are here in NY at SES but we're still trying to post items to the blog. Here's some big news (especially for the developers out there) from Yahoo!

Yahoo! Search application programming interfaces (APIs) are now publicly available from the just announced Yahoo Search Developer Network.

The YSDN features Yahoo! Search APIs which span Web search verticals, search engine marketing and direct advertising products including:

+ Web Search + Image Search + Video Search + News Search + Local Search + Spelling Correction + Related Searches + Overture

APIs enable developers and webmasters to easily create search-enabled applications that leverage Yahoo! Search Technology. Each API provides developers with access to 5,000 queries per day per day. In addition to providing web search services, the Yahoo Search Developer Network provides public access to the APIs the Overture division of Yahoo! has provided to its partners since 2001.

I'm sure Jerry Yang will have more to say about the YSDN when he chats with Danny during a keynote "interview" later today.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBack