WebProNews

Want to "have a hand in shaping the next generation of search"?  Or at least pad your wallet with ten thousand dollars?  Yahoo has opened its new SearchMonkey platform to all developers, and at the same time, announced the SearchMonkey Developer Challenge.

 SearchMonkey Example

Silly though it sounds, SearchMonkey really is intended to have a big influence on Yahoo's future.  Developers are being asked to create either "Enhanced Results" or "Infobars," and on the Yahoo Search Blog, Amit Kumar explains, "Enhanced Results replace the current standard results with a richer display."

He then continues, "All the links in the Enhanced Results must point to the site to which the result refers.  Infobars are appended below search results and can include metadata about the result, related links or content, or links for user actions (such as adding a movie to a Netflix queue)."

Tinkerers can presumably play with SearchMonkey for as long as they like, but the official Challenge ends on June 14th, so its results may affect Yahoo.com in short order.  Contestants will be affected when $2,500 is given to each of the winners for "Best Enhanced Result," "Best Infobar," "Most Innovative Use of Structured Data," and "Best Data Service."  And one grand prize winner will walk away with the $10K.

So go ahead, take a crack at determining Yahoo's fate.  Or at least keep an eye out to see how others' attempts fare.