Yahoo BOSS Version 2 Launches With Pricing and Branding Requirements And Microsoft’s Search Index

Yahoo has just launched version 2 of BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service). When they announced this version in February, I wrote about the history of BOSS and detailed the changes. The big changes are:

• The web and image search results are now sourced from Microsoft’s search index
• Yahoo branding attribution is now required (the first version allowed white labeling)
• Developers are charged based on query volume (the first version was free)
• the key terms/query suggestions feature has been discontinued

Upgrade Process

Yahoo says that it’s taken 7-10 days for developers they’ve worked with to upgrade their services from version 1 to version 2. Version 1 of the API will be going away on July 20th, so all services will need to be upgraded by then. They don’t have an upgrade guide that outlines what to look for when modifying services that use BOSS but say they’ll be available to answer questions in their Yahoo user group.

Branding Requirements

The first version of BOSS allowed white labeling, but now, services will have to clearly state that results are “Created with Yahoo Search”, use the Yahoo logo, and link back to the Yahoo BOSS site. I clarified with Yahoo that the service itself requires this branding, but if the service uses results from multiple services, the results from Yahoo BOSS don’t have to be notated separately. The branding has to be included only once and can be on the About of FAQ page of the service.