Yahoo! has rolled out a limited preview of its SearchMonkey platform.The new facility comprises a set of open source tools that enable publishers and users to annotate and enhance search results that are associated with specific websites.
It is intended as a means by which third-party web developers can improve the functionality, usefulness and appearance of Yahoo! search results.
The project was first announced during a Search Marketing Expo West conference in February.
Speaking at the event, Amit Kumar, product lead for SearchMonkey, said: "Traditionally, we talk about results and results only. The interesting thing we're adding here is the ability to annotate someone's results," Search Engine Land reported.
According to Yahoo!, the new enhancements offered by the open search platform enable publishers to add additional information that will be displayed with web search results.
For example, retailers can include product information, merchants can post details of opening hours and restaurants can include links to menus and reviews.
Writing on the Yahoo! search blog, Mr Kumar states: "Site owners can build enhanced search results that will provide searchers with a more useful experience by including links, images and name-value pairs in the search results for their pages."
Additionally, users can customise their personal search experiences using applications built by or for their favourite sites.
Yahoo! says that the SearchMonkey platform is part of its theme of opening up the web for publishers and users.
