New semantic web tag format announced

A new open tagging format has been launched to support the development of the semantic web.

Common Tag is being supported by a group of web companies that includes Yahoo!, AdaptiveBlue, Freebase, Zemanta, Zigtag and Faviki.

The tag enables website owners to clearly label their content and make it easier to refer to related content, create topic hubs and add free data, images and widgets to their online pages.

It was developed to solve problems such as having multiple tags for the same concept and using terms that could refer to more than one thing.

"When we add semantic meaning to tags, the content that is tagged becomes significantly easier for machines to understand," commented Peter Mika of Yahoo! Research.

"That in turn allows for the development of more intelligent applications for aggregating, searching and browsing the web."

Development work on the new interactive tagging standard began about one year ago.

The semantic web has come to the fore of certain companies' development efforts in recent times, with new search engines such as Microsoft's Bing and Wolfram Alpha making use of semantic technology to deliver more relevant results to users.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.