Yahoo To Close BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) Next Month

Yahoo is set to close Yahoo BOSS, the build-your-own-search service they launched back on July 10, 2008. The service will close officially on March 31, 2016.

BOSS allowed both non-developers and developers to build a simple search service through their search tools. There were APIs and developer tools, as well as simple-to-use web interfaces to construct your own search service.

Initially, it was powered off Yahoo’s search technology, and then when Microsoft took over their search, they migrated some of the features to Microsoft’s index. They also added a fee structure based on query volume.

All of that is going away next month.

If you visit boss.yahoo.com or the BOSS API page, they read:

At Yahoo, we’re always looking for ways to streamline and simplify products for our customers. With this focus in mind, we will discontinue the BOSS JSON Search API on March 31, 2016.

Access to the BOSS APIs will continue until March 31, 2016. Moving forward, customers leveraging the BOSS JSON Search API can instead use YPA, a Javascript Solution that provides algorithmic web results with search ads for publishers who manage their own search engine results pages (SERPs). Click here to apply or learn more about YPA, or if you are working with a Yahoo Partner Manager, they can help you explore your options.

If you have any questions regarding BOSS please visit our FAQs page here or you may click here to get in touch.