Recognizing its users’ growing desire to search instead of surf for what they want at AOL.com, America Online Inc. has strengthened its ties with search engine Google, AOL said today. AOL has also taken several steps to improve its own site search. “By offering best-of-breed search from Google together with the ability to search all of AOL, we’re giving our members what they’ve told us they want most: quick, direct access to relevant results,” said David Gang, executive vice president of AOL Products.
AOL’s expanded agreement with Google will lead to increased access to Google’s index of billions of searchable documents for tens of millions of AOL users, AOL said. The two companies also extended their marketing agreement under which Google provides targeted paid search listings ranked by relevancy to members of AOL and CompuServe as well as to non-subscribing users of AOL.com and Netscape.com. Under the extended marketing agreement, Google now provides relevant sponsored links for business listings and directories of the AOL Yellow Pages. Google has a base of more than 150,000 online advertisers.
Further terms of the multi-year agreement, including details on how AOL will expand use of Google search technology, were not disclosed. “The two companies will continue working together on a variety of search-related initiatives,” an AOL spokesman says. “Search is very hot right now as the online consumer has grown from a surfer to a searcher, so we’re always trying to provide the best search experience we can.”
"Google is committed to working with America Online to help enhance the overall experience for the millions of AOL members and users around the world by enabling them to find the information and services they need," said Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder and president of technology.
AOL has introduced the following enhancements to its site search:
-- a new “Smart” box search tool that automatically presents relevant choices and suggestions to improve search results;
-- improved local searching for quickly finding local businesses organized by ZIP code;
-- expanded search capabilities for thousands of music/entertainment products and programs;
-- a new “Hot Searches” feature that presents topics gaining in popularity with AOL users.
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