Yahoo! opens search toolkit in quest for more ads

Today, Yahoo! plans introduce "Build Your Own Search," which will open up the company's technology to third party web developers. Why are they doing this? Why else? They are trying to catch Google.

From the article:

That means any Web site will be able to assemble a search engine using Yahoo's system for indexing information and images on the Internet. Yahoo figures plenty of Web developers will be interested because it's providing access to a set of tools that would cost more than $300 million to build from scratch.

All Yahoo will seek in return is the right to display ads alongside the results of any search engine that piggybacks on its technology. That way, Yahoo figures it will lessen Google's dominance.

Two specialty search services, Hakia and Me.dium, already have agreed to participate in the BOSS program.

"Our goal is to disrupt the search market and allow more entrants to come in," said Prabhakar Raghavan, Yahoo's chief strategist for search.