Sunnyvale, Calif.—Yahoo announced Monday that it has launched a commercial application program interface initiative that it said will provide free and open access to its Panama search marketing application program.

The program will give advertisers, developers and commercial partners the ability to build on Yahoo’s core search marketing technologies or create new search marketing tools and applications.

Yahoo said it will also offer commercial clients an optional fee-based set of services that can be customized to include significant technical support, product roadmap visibility and co-marketing services.

“By providing open access to our technology, we are making a clear investment in our advertising partners, creating new opportunities for developers and taking a key step toward achieving our vision to build the industry’s leading advertising and publishing ecosystem,” said Susan Decker, exec VP and head of Yahoo’s Advertiser & Publisher Group.

The program provides three levels of commercial partnership: basic, advanced and elite.

—Carol Krol