Yahoo launches BOSS in Google catch-up attempt

To help make more of a dent in the Google-dominated search and ad markets, Yahoo is rolling out an initiative that will open the door wider to its search service, but mainly for developers and ISVs willing to host Yahoo ads on their sites.

"BOSS [Build Your Own Search Service]...is an API to tap into Yahoo's prized search infrastructure. It allows developers, start-ups, and established consumer Internet companies to leverage the power of Yahoo," contends a BOSS API Guide newly posted on Yahoo's developers site.

According to the guide, BOSS extends Google's existing Search API -- designed for rapid development of search applications and mash-ups -- by introducing the ability to create applications for commercial use without any restrictions around the presentation or ordering of search results.

"You can take BOSS results, blend in your own secret sauce, and build a search engine of your own design, all without required brand attribution," Yahoo vows.

BOSS provides a RESTful API for use with most Yahoo Web services, which are based on so-called "REST (Representational State Transfer)-Like" operations. These RPC-style operations utilize HTTP GET or POST requests with parameters URL encoded into the request. Search results can be presented as either JSON or XML result sets.

In the first release of BOSS, developers can fetch search content for Yahoo Web, News, Image, and Spelling Suggestions. But other search verticals and data sources will be on the way soon.

There's a catch, though. Along the way, BOSS will move to a revenue-sharing model, "It will be a requirement to host our ads on your site. We're building this technology into our platform and it is coming soon," officials acknowledge, in a Q&A on the site.

"Yahoo Search will share the revenue produced through these ads with developers. In the meantime, the API is open for free use without the ads."

Yet while pitching a promise of shared ad money to developers, Yahoo is evidently aiming to use BOSS as a tool in its attempts to gain some ground on industry leader Google, while also generating revenues that will help to keep the company out of the clutches of potential acquirers such as Microsoft.

The latest numbers from comScore show that Google held a 62% share among US search users in May, in contrast to only 21% for Yahoo. Meanwhile, Google raked in 71% of search-related advertising in 2007, compared to merely 8.9% for Yahoo, according to eMarketer, Inc.

AOL, a company that trails Google in both areas even further than Yahoo, is also making revenue-sharing plays with initiatives such as AIM Money.