Internet search rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft formed an unusual alliance to support a shared standard regarding how websites are pinpointed for their indexes.

The "joint initiative" was intended to make it easier for webmasters, or website creators, to let Internet search engines know what their online pages contained, according to Google was.

Search engines could use the information gathered in the "web crawl" process to better tailor results for their users.

Yahoo and Microsoft announced they would each support Google's "Sitemaps 0.90" protocol instead of using different standards for submissions by webmasters. Sitemaps help webmasters surface content that is typically difficult for crawlers to discover, leading to a more comprehensive search experience for users."

"The launch of Sitemaps is significant because it allows for a single, easy way for websites to provide content and metadata to search engines," said Yahoo Search director of product management Tim Mayer.

A Sitemap is a website file that acts as a marker for search engines to "crawl" certain pages. It allows webmasters to list their online addresses, called "URLs," along with data such as the last time the page was updated. The Sitemaps protocol used by Google has been widely adopted by many Web properties, including sites from the Wikimedia Foundation.