Internet media company Yahoo will enhance its search services by tapping into richer content such as audio, video and reference information.
Yahoo, which is beefing up its search services to compete against Google and Microsoft`s MSN Internet division, said in February that it was starting to make a switch to its own Web search technology.
Search users at Yahoo`s Web site will be able to access rich content, such as the audio files of National Public Radio, the US Library of Congress, the New York Public Library and Supreme Court audio recordings available through a Northwestern University project.
"We think this will help change how people think about search," said Tim Cadogan, VP of search at Yahoo.
The new initiative to include richer media in search results, which Yahoo calls its Content Acquisition Programme, is aimed at creating closer links between Yahoo`s search engine and digital audio and visual media, Cadogan said.
Both commercial and non-commercial content providers can submit Web pages that are added to Yahoo`s search index, its database of searchable Web sites.
Non-commercial organisations can submit their Web pages and digital content for inclusion in Yahoo search results for free, while commercial content providers pay a fee to include their content in search results.
The widely anticipated announcement marks the unwinding of a long-term relationship between Yahoo, operator of the world`s most-visited Internet properties, and Google, the number one Web search provider.
Yahoo has recently made major investments in the sector with acquisitions of search provider Inktomi and Overture Services, a key Web-search advertising company.
Microsoft is also throwing its vast resources behind a project to build search technology of its own.
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