During mid of May, Yahoo broadcasted a message to developers to develop customized search results using their Search Monkey platform. And now, Yahoo Search has eventually gotten the monkey off of its back, the SearchMonkey to be exact, as the Yahoo SearchMonkey Gallery and Yahoo Search Customization has launched in public beta to offer Yahoo users the options of customizing their search results with applications built by third party publishers.
As posted on the Yahoo Search Blog:
Search Gallery functions as a platform for custom search add-ons that have been developed, such as Yelp, Last.fm, and LinkedIn.
The Search Gallery is still in beta, although there are already a lots of really useful apps included. We expect the number and variety of apps to grow significantly with time.
What kinds of applications are available? SearchMonkey apps go far beyond the Facebook-type zombie and sheep stuff that have caused so much eye rolling. Well for one, bloggers can develop applications which show their top 10 latest blog posts in an expandable window under their search results.
Likewise, HowStuffWorks.com is using SearchMonkey to add basic content to their listings within Yahoo Search Results.
In a statement on the Yahoo Search Blog, Director of Product Management Amit Kumar says:
“The launch of the Yahoo! Search Gallery is just the first step in making SearchMonkey applications available and easy to use for consumers. This is the first phase of a larger plan to provide opportunities for viral distribution of SearchMonkey apps. We are continuing to develop new ways to surface and share useful and high-performance applications in users’ search experience and more broadly on the web, so expect more in the near future.”
On the Yahoo Search Blog, Kumar also notes, “One third party developer, Marco Vitanza, designed this Infobar, which annotates blogspot.com search results with links to the 10 most recent posts from the corresponding blog.” And “this Enhanced Result from HowStuffWorks.com does just what you would expect; it gives you the basics on how things work, from car engines to the Internet.”
Yahoo has some grand concept here and one that could significantly improve the search experience for users. And, if you wish to have fun with some apps before all that happens, just click the “customize” option on any page of Yahoo search results and start browsing the gallery.
However, with the results shown, there is no change in rankings; a publisher, who builds a SearchMonkey app and shares it with their users, should ideally get a better and more enhanced click thru ratio from those brand loyal users.
The current achievement requires you to maneuver your searches to get any customized results, in many cases.
Hence, the user must select to add the application to their customized search results themselves, either via the new Customize tab in their Yahoo Search panel, or from a publisher’s site or marketing efforts. Of course, since most people have Yahoo user accounts, publishers can add “Add us to Yahoo” icon on their web sites, Facebook apps, outbound emails, blog posts or RSS feeds to help accelerate the adoption of their Yahoo SearchMoney Applications.
Furthermore, Yahoo will also be partnering with some distinct partners to feature special chosen applications within their system. Obvious partners may include companies like eBay, Amazon, Wikipedia and other major current Yahoo content partners and online news publications.
And to top it all, if you are a developer then checkout the “Yahoo SearchMonkey Developer Contest,” where the winner can walk away with $10,000!