Yahoo SearchMonkey gets Zagat, CitySearch
Trying to reclaim a lead lost to Google, Yahoo is repackaging some search results with extra information. New business review Web sites have joined the effort.
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Yahoo has broadened use of its SearchMonkey technology to spruce up search results with specific information from Citysearch and Zagat, the company said Thursday.
SearchMonkey draws upon "semantic Web" information used to help computers better understand the data on Web sites. SearchMonkey can build that data, such as movie ratings or restaurant phone numbers, into the search results Yahoo presents. (See an example below.)
But SearchMonkey-enhancd results won't show unless a user turns on a specific application--or unless Yahoo turns on that application by default. Now it has with the applications from Zagat and Citysearch, so some search results can be framed with those companies' extra information about various businesses.
The move is part of the Yahoo Open Strategy. Yahoo announced the SearchMonkey move on its blog on Thursday.
