Yahoo! Launches Search Subscriptions Beta

Enables users to search multiple online subscription content sources and the internet from a single search box.

Yahoo! Inc., today announced the beta launch of Yahoo! Search Subscriptions, a service that enables users to search multiple online subscription content sources and the web from a single search box.

Subscription content includes for-pay news and reference web sites. According to the company, Yahoo! Search is the first major search engine to offer the ability to search for personal subscription content found in the 'deep web'. The deep web includes millions of access-restricted web sites containing content that search engines typically cannot access. Initial content providers include ConsumerReports.org, The Wall Street Journal Online, TheStreet.com and The New England Journal of Medicine.

To use Yahoo! Search Subscriptions, users can select from a list of subscription content sources. When a search is conducted, their subscription content appears in their web results, and is displayed as a separate module above the standard search results. The service is initially available in the U.S. and the UK.

"We are in the very early stages of providing our users with access to the deep web through Yahoo! Search Subscriptions and over the coming months we plan to expand this program to further accommodate our users' wide range of interests," said Eckart Walther, vice president, product management, Yahoo! Search. "For the first time, publishers can bring content to their subscribers on a broad scale through a leading search engine."