Yahoo drops developers support

SEARCH ADVERTISING FLOGGER Yahoo is canning developer support for the Search Monkey Program it was working on with Microsoft Search Alliance.

Natasha Fattedad, principal product manager at Yahoo Search blogged about its decision to drop support for developers.

"In order to align our resources on strategic priorities, we have decided to close the SearchMonkey developer tool, gallery, and app preferences on October 1, 2010," said Fattedad.

"As a result, third party custom result apps, infobar apps, and data services will no longer appear on Yahoo!'s search results. For developers who wish to retain their code, please export it using your favorite copy/paste tool before then."

Yahoo is gong to transition its organic search listings to Microsoft and claimed Search Monkey's data processing technology will also move to Microsoft.

The change comes as Yahoo is moving lock, stock and barrel to Bing after signing a ten-year deal with the Vole to work together. Yahoo and Microsoft sealed the deal back in February. The deal saw Vole Towers taking over Yahoo's algorithmic search platforms, while Yahoo is handling the premium advertising businesses for both companies.

While Fattedad didn't cover the Bing move, another Yahoo employee was happy to blog about what punters can expect while they make the move.

"To keep things simple, we will share site information you provide on Site Explorer with Microsoft during this transition period," said Yahoo VP Neil Sample. µ