Добавлено: 05/02/02 в 15:50

Хорошие новости про Google
By Danny Sullivan
Editor, Search Engine Watch
http://searchenginewatch.com/
Copyright (c) 2002 INT Media Group, Inc.

Google Ousts Overture At Earthlink, Begins Ad Distribution

Without announcement, Google has begun serving up search results to users
of the Earthlink web site, taking over a partnership previously held by
Overture.

Earthlink is one of the largest Internet service providers in the United
States, and it has used Overture's paid placement results to power search
at its site for the past two years. That deal expired in January, and
Google apparently was selected to take over.

The change is extremely good news for searchers. Last year, as search
sites such as Go, NBCi and Excite went under, it seemed as if the pure
paid placement model was going to take over. All of those sites dropped
editorial-compiled results and went for the easy money of ad-dominated
listings.

The Earthlink deal is a substantial shift back to quality. Those searching
at Earthlink are now getting a healthy-dose of top-notch editorial
listings from Google, rather than a lot of ads from Overture. It suggests
that perhaps other sites providing search will be motivated to think about
both money and quality.

The Google results are not ad-free. AdWords listings that run on the
regular Google web site also appear on the Google results provided to
Earthlink, in the clearly marked "Sponsored Results" section at the top of
the page.

This is the first time Google had distributed its ads outside of its own
web site and a first move in having the company compete with Overture.
Until now, a weakness in the Google distribution strategy has been the
fact that it charges sites to carry its search results. In a tight
economy, that's a tough sell against Overture, which tells sites that
carry its results that they'll share in ad revenues.

Google said it couldn't yet comment about the Earthlink deal. However, the
new product from Google, which combines ads and search results, certainly
helps make the company more competitive. It can now tell sites that carry
its listings that they, too, can share in ad revenues.

Google results and ads are also showing up at Sympatico, a Canadian portal
which is minority owned by Lycos. Google is also now providing
international web search results at the Web.de German search site, though
AdWords distribution does not appear to be happening there.