Yahoo Wields New Tool to Battle Google

Yahoo Inc. will introduce a tool for Web developers Thursday that is designed to expand the scale of its struggling search business and help create new competitors to Google Inc.

The company said the free tool will allow developers to build customized search services based on its own search technology -- paving the way for new entrants. Yahoo hopes the service will increase the number of searches done through its service and generate more advertising revenue, since sites that incorporate the tool will eventually run Yahoo search ads.

Yahoo's announcement comes as the company campaigns to convince investors and advertisers that it should continue to stay in the search business, after it turned down an offer to sell the business to Microsoft Corp. and struck a search-advertising agreement with Google.