Yahoo Search BOSS Evolves to Paid Model

Yahoo Search BOSS is moving to a paid model for version 2 as the Internet company works around Microsoft.

Yahoo Search BOSS, the developer search service whose future was thrown into doubt when Microsoft Bing began powering Yahoo's search results this past summer, is moving to a paid model with oAuth security access in 2011.

Launched in 2008 as part of Yahoo's plan to open up its search platform to developers, Yahoo Search BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) gives developers free access to the Yahoo Search index.

The results can be applied to the developer's Website or program so that they can manipulate the resources according to their product's requirements.

The new BOSS V2 platform will offer a cost-per-query model, with pricing varying from 40 cents to 75 cents CPM for 1,000 BOSS queries, depending on whether a user is using Web, image or news content from Yahoo.

BOSS V2 will provide a self-service payment model with developers being allowed to add credit card authentication at sign-up and to check usage, billing and other information on a new dashboard interface.

In time, developers may also choose to make money from their search services through the ad marketplace resulting from the Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance, which was inked in July 2009.

Microsoft pays Yahoo 88 percent of traffic acquisition costs to power Yahoo search in the deal, which commenced in earnest in August.

Yahoo has not yet firmed up a launch date for BOSS V2. Rahul Hampole, senior product manager for Yahoo Search BOSS, said Yahoo will provide BOSS developers 60 days from the launch of BOSS V2 to migrate to the new service, after which BOSS V1 will go dark.

Structured data, key terms, Delicious data and the Site Explorer Service may not be available in BOSS V2.

Meanwhile, some things aren't changing at all with BOSS, which will continue to be a RESTful API for Web, image and news search. Core Web and image results will eventually be powered by the Microsoft search platform.

BOSS V2, which developers will have to access via oAuth authentication, will also support additional vertical search services in the future.