Yahoo tonight announced the Yahoo Search Developer’s Network (no link up yet). In short, this is a program to allow developers to build upon the Yahoo Search and Overture platforms (Overture will be rebranded Yahoo Search Marketing Solutions – I was wondering when the Overture name was going to be phased out). This is big Web 2.0/Web as Platform news, and I can’t wait to see what comes of it. From the release:
The Yahoo Search Developer Network features Yahoo! Search APIs which span Web search verticals, search engine marketing and direct advertising products including:
• Web search – leveraging Yahoo! Search Technology
• Image search – the largest image search index on the Web with more than 1.5 billion images
• Video search – providing users with one-click access to any video
• News search – with more than 7,000 news sources
• Local search – the most popular destination online for local information
• Spelling correction – advanced search query spelling correction technology
• Related searches – advanced search query recommendation technology
• Overture – access to its search engine marketing API program
Most APIs provide the developers with access to 5,000 queries per day per API, exceeding current competitive search API offerings.
That last part is a dig at Google, which limits its APIs to 1000 queries, hence there has been no real commercial development on top of the Google search platform. But will 5000 be enough? Not for really scaled innovations. Let’s hope they figure out the model to allow for more….full release in extended entry.
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YAHOO! INTRODUCES YAHOO! SEARCH DEVELOPER NETWORK
New Service to Provide Developers with Comprehensive Web Service APIs For
Yahoo! Search and Overture Services
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – (March 1, 2005) Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) a leading global Internet company, today announced the launch of the Yahoo! Search Developer Network (http://developer.yahoo.com) a new, one-stop resource that provides developers with access to Web service application programming interfaces (APIs) to Yahoo! Search products and Overture’s (which will be re-branded Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions) long standing API programs. Additionally, the Yahoo! Search Developer Network provides application developers with sample code and tools to share ideas and expertise, as well as the ability to showcase applications written and distributed by developers.
“We have worked closely with the development community to create a new program designed to stimulate open discussion, experimentation and development of new search applications,” said Dr. David Ku, director of engineering, Yahoo! Search. “We believe that it is critical to provide the development community with both the search APIs and interactive resources to help foster the discovery of innovative applications leveraging Yahoo! Search Technology.”
The Yahoo Search Developer Network features Yahoo! Search APIs which span Web search verticals, search engine marketing and direct advertising products including:
• Web search – leveraging Yahoo! Search Technology
• Image search – the largest image search index on the Web with more than 1.5 billion images
• Video search – providing users with one-click access to any video
• News search – with more than 7,000 news sources
• Local search – the most popular destination online for local information
• Spelling correction – advanced search query spelling correction technology
• Related searches – advanced search query recommendation technology
• Overture – access to its search engine marketing API program
In addition to providing the APIs, the Yahoo! Search Developer Network also enables developers to share knowledge through an interactive online community that features: mailing lists and discussion groups dedicated to each API, an application showcase, a weblog, and a “wiki” that provides developers with the ability to ask questions, share ideas and provide feedback on how best to utilize the APIs.
– more –
“Yahoo! has a rich legacy in creating consumer applications and we are excited that they are opening up their search platform, to allow the development community to innovate and build upon their technology,” said Rael Dornfest, CTO, O’Reilly Media, Inc. “We look forward to seeing what independent developers will design for the next generation of consumer and business applications.”
APIs enable developers and webmasters to easily create search-enabled applications that leverage Yahoo! Search Technology. To help developers get started quickly, the Yahoo Search Developer Network provides sample code for the most popular Web application development languages including Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python and PHP. Most APIs provide the developers with access to 5,000 queries per day per API, exceeding current competitive search API offerings.
In addition to providing web search services, the Yahoo Search Developer Network provides public access to the API that Overture has provided to its partners since 2001. The program allows search engine marketers, direct advertisers and other third party developers to build applications that interact directly with Overture’s products and tools to manage and analyze search marketing campaigns.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is the No. 1 Internet brand globally and the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide. Yahoo! provides online products and services essential to consumers’ lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.
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Media Contacts:
Yahoo! Search
Stephanie Ichinose
408-349-6877
siwamasa@yahoo-inc.com
Fleishman Hillard for Yahoo!
Cynthia Schott
415-318-4143
schottc@fleishman.com
It’s up now at http://developer.yahoo.com/
That last part is a dig at Google
Google has been very generous in giving unlimited access to those who request.
This is big, and I think Yahoo knows how to launch and support this better than Google does. With samples from Paul Bausch of Blogger, Jeff Friedl, and a quote from Rael Dornfest, you have a team of O’Reilly authors helping launch.
More thoughts on the differentiation from Google over here: http://gotads.blogspot.com
There has been at least one commercial development on the Google Web APIs platform which uses more than 1000 queries per day. GoogleAlert has a paid alerting service (as well as a free one) – and the same company also does CopyScape which also has a paid version. Their FAQs state that “Google has generously provided Google Alert with a high-capacity Web APIs key for our needs.” So it looks like Google do this on a case-by-case basis. I wonder if Yahoo will be as flexible?
It would be nice if Yahoo! could figure out Content-Type.
Unlike Google, the 5000 limit is per application “per IP”. So it is a really sufficient for client side applications, such as the Firefox Search Sidebar. There might be some issues for users behind ISP’s NAT to be counted as one IP though.
Yahoo API supports Java, PHP, Phython…etc. but how about the .NET??
Why doesn’t Yahoo update API?