Jul 10 2008

Looking At Yahoo’s New BOSS

By Jeremy Schoemaker 38 comments

Yahoo recently launched a new service called BOSS (Build Your Own Search Engine/Service). Vanessa Fox has a great (and lengthy) writeup on the service on Search Engine Land.

I will cut right to the chase.

It appears to offer the same services as Microsoft and Google’s Custom search APIS but it will allow you to place more influence on how items are ranked… like by how many links they have from social sites or whatever algorithm you can come up with (to an extent). But really is this a needed service? It seems like we already have lots of search engines that rank according to social mentions.

From the BOSS blog:

What’s in it for users?
More choice. BOSS will enable a range of fundamentally different search experiences. These new search products will provide value to users along multiple dimensions, such as vertical specialization, new relevance indicators and ranking models, and innovative UI implementations. Our hope is that the resulting expansion in user choice will have the effect of fragmenting the increasingly consolidated search market in much the same way that cable TV dramatically increased programming choices for television viewers.

I am looking forward to playing with it when I have time. It is a interesting concept and I personally like the Yahoo API’s best out of all the major search engines.

Monetization wise currently you are permitted to monetize however you want BUT in the future they will be throwing in Yahoo Ads into your listings and you are required to show them.

Anyway I am always for api’s especially those with unlimited calls

Make Money Talks said on July 10th, 2008 at 9:41 am

Thanks for headsup, looks like API war is coming on big door!
They want all our traffic to see their ads

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Start Blogging said on July 10th, 2008 at 9:42 am

Interesting. Definitely something to try out!

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Hustle Strategy said on July 10th, 2008 at 9:45 am

true that. i will have ot check out what can be done through the api…

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Chetan said on July 10th, 2008 at 10:16 am

Please share your experience with it, and how can it be compared with Google’s custom search engine!

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jim said on July 10th, 2008 at 10:36 am

I think it’s a clever move, but if MS buys them I see it going away… MS isn’t quite so open.

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Amirulcyber said on July 10th, 2008 at 10:40 am

I never think about.Thanks a lot.very nice.

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the story lady said on July 10th, 2008 at 11:58 am

Is this just one more thing to mess with, or will it provide any real value?
Ronda

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Winning Startups said on July 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

Looking forward to working with it. While I think it’s a technological marvel that Google can come up with so many searches so quickly, I think there is definitely a lot of room for improvement, and am interested in seeing Yahoo’s new product.

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Winning Startups said on July 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

They need to do something. I know my stats show very few results from Yahoo searches, mostly from Google. I think this is a step in the right direction for Yahoo

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Movies said on July 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

it will go the way it come

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Forumistan said on July 10th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

I never think about that….

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Planet Comic Book Radio said on July 10th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

The problem with Yahoo is the traffic. This may help them out if bloggers and webmasters install the BOSS.

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Saad Kamal said on July 10th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

It would be interesting to see whether any individual or company can come up with a better ‘algorithm’ of some sort of use that to power another niche engine.

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Paul said on July 10th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

First time I have heard about this. This is really going to help us with our new feature for real estate agents. Thanks for the information! I always learn something new everyday that I visit. You’ve been an inspiration to me and my team.

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Affiliate Marketing Blog said on July 10th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Wow… This could really be useful. I wonder what web 2.0 services will come out of this lol…

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Zak Show said on July 10th, 2008 at 5:49 pm

Sounds good, but I think Google custom search is better. Isn’t it ?

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Chetan said on July 10th, 2008 at 7:18 pm

YSearchBlog gave some good points and info about BOSS. Anyone who wants to try them seriously can check that out.

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Amirulcyber said on July 10th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

i come to your blog again because i always think about your blog.Nice blog.thanks..

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Hoo Kang said on July 10th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

Hey Shoe,

What do you mean by unlimited calls? Calls to the yahoo server?

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greg said on July 10th, 2008 at 10:45 pm

Search APIs are nothing new, but typically they’ve included rate limits, strict terms of service regarding the re-ordering and presentation of results, and provided little or no opportunity for monetization. These constraints have limited the innovation and commercial viability of new search solutions.

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TechDude said on July 11th, 2008 at 12:33 am

So Google has competition now…?

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Web Marketeer said on July 11th, 2008 at 1:04 am

This is the best new news from Yahoo! for quite a while. Nice seeing that the Microhoo saga hasn’t stifled them too much. This will create opportunity for the community to tweak and develop their search offering. Good move, look what became of Firefox….

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Web Marketeer said on July 11th, 2008 at 1:18 am

There is an awesome post about the possibilities of Yahoo’s BOSS offering on Marketing Pilgrim - http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/07/yahoo-now-the-boss-of-6602224175-volunteers.html

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Web Marketeer said on July 11th, 2008 at 1:19 am

Unlimited queries to the Yahoo server(s)

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Hands-On Internet Marketing Guides said on July 11th, 2008 at 1:22 am

Look interesting, will check it out!
Thanks

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Web Marketeer said on July 11th, 2008 at 1:22 am

There is a comprehensive post about the ins and outs of Yahoo’s new BOSS service on Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim Blog, for anybody desiring some extra info and insight. Enjoy!

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Amir Ahmad | MindValley Labs said on July 11th, 2008 at 4:41 am

Ah, the more of this, the merrier. It’s we the consumers who benefit after all. More choices baby!

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Dick said on July 11th, 2008 at 5:37 am

I think that Yahoo not the best of search engines. However, this service is interesting.

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Movies said on July 11th, 2008 at 8:12 am

can you post the direct link ?

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PPC said on July 12th, 2008 at 7:00 am

Microsoft sure needs to get with the open source type mindset that is starting to dominate the internet…..

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PPC said on July 12th, 2008 at 7:02 am

Thinking is really good….you should try it sometime….what was that comment all about? People like you give legitimate responses a bad name!

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Web Marketeer said on July 12th, 2008 at 7:07 am

Please check my post two up. I did this one after it didn’t register, seems there is a delay on posts with direct links in, most prob 2 make sure that they’re not garbage?

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Web Marketeer said on July 12th, 2008 at 7:09 am

My pleasure!

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RacerX said on July 12th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Yep, they might slip to 90% market share otherwise

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petnos said on July 13th, 2008 at 10:41 am

It will be more tasty than the others if i can able to understand how it works.

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Steve Watts said on July 13th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

I don’t see how anything like this can really take off. The search APIs have always been a little hit or miss in terms of results and reliability. Will be interesting to play around with Yahoo’s version though.

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Godaddy Coupons and Promo Codes said on July 17th, 2008 at 7:43 pm

I prefer google custom search engine

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Chip said on July 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 am

Yeah, I like API’s too. they allow you to develop new stuff. Hope to see what’s new soon.

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