the fragmentation continues. hopefully the UK will follow suit and AOL will eventually decide to break away completely. the more the smaller providers continue to do this the less of a monopoly Google has and the better it is for people trying to survive in the market.
AOL Launches Private-Label AOL-Only Search Product
by Laurie Petersen, Monday, Apr 9, 2007
AOL TODAY LAUNCHES AOL SEARCH Marketplace, a private-label version of Google AdWords search allowing advertisers to place search ads only within the AOL network.
This marks the first time Google has allowed one of its partners to offer such a service. It is an expansion of a five-year strategic relationship between Google and AOL struck in December 2005 in which Google powered the contextual search ads found on the AOL service.
AOL Search Marketplace is designed to enhance the efforts of display advertisers on the AOL service, allowing it to offer deeper services and strengthen relationships with these advertisers, said Dariusz Pacsuski, vice president of search products for AOL Platforms. It has been tested with about 30 advertisers over the past five months.”
“We have found that there is a significant impact when search and display campaigns are coordinated,” said Mike Kelly, president of AOL Media Networks.
The service also gives AOL a better shot at getting some of the search advertising dollars that have gone to Google. AOL restructured to put a focus on a free ad-supported service last year, and has made online ad sales a top priority. AOL ad sales rose to nearly $2 billion in fourth-quarter 2006, up 49% over the previous year for the period.
“This brings what you can classify as a really strong second-tier player to the table,” said Stephen Chiles, COO of search marketing agency Reprise Media. “Anytime you can get diversity beyond the big three, that’s certainly a positive.”
“You can certainly hope that there will potentially be less spam since it’s a syndicated Google,” added Chiles, a former AOL executive.
Still, the service can only be viewed as a supplemental play because of the AOL volume, he said. According to comScore Media Metrix, AOL has 111 million monthly unique visitors, and search drew 311 million queries in February. Its latest public filing pegged the number of paying AOL domestic subscribers at 13.18 million.
AOL also announced two other search enhancements launching today. AOL Local Search is now in beta incorporating technology from MapQuest. It combines information from AOL’s CityGuide with geotargeted advertising to make it easy to find a location and get reviews of local businesses, restaurants and more.
A new AOL Shopping and Commerce Search is resulting from a partnership with PriceGrabber.com to provide a comparison shopping search experience.