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Yahoo opens up search results

February 26, 2008 | Internet Marketing

In an effort to open up its search results page and provide users with better access to structured content from trusted publishers, Yahoo is launching a new program that allows site owners to build plug-ins for Yahoo Search that will enhance the site owner's listing in Yahoo's search results.

Under the open search platform, users who turn on a Yahoo Search plug-in created by a publisher will see enhanced listings when the publisher’s site is returned on a Yahoo search results page. The plug-ins are intended to expose structured information, and provide more deep links into a site, images, or ratings and reviews, for example.

“The experience is dramatically different, and very useful to searchers,” said Amit Kumar, director of product management for Yahoo Search.

One of the first publishers to publish a plug-in will be local content site Yelp. Searchers who have enabled the Yelp plug-in will see an enhanced result when Yelp shows up in search results. Instead of the typical title and description, the result will appear more like a Yahoo Shortcut, Google Onebox, or Ask Smart Answer. It will include links to Yelp reviews, photos, ratings, and contact info for the business.

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