GoTo changes name to Overture

September 10 2001

The world leader in pay-per-click search engines, GoTo will change its name to Overture Services. The company will probably start using the new name on October 8.

The popular and -- hear, hear! -- profitable pay-per-click search engine company GoTo has decided to change its name to Overture. The main reason is presumably to avoid to getting mixed up with sites like Go, Go2Net and Go2.

Changing a well known trademark like this is a risky business indeed, but as GoTo no longer intends to become an important search destination in its own right, the company has clearly found that the change is worth the risk. GoTo/Overture provides paid search results to many of the major search portals.

The name Overture was chosen based on its "ability to communicate the company's compelling advertiser and affiliate partner benefits", the company says. One definition of "overture" is an introduction, and, therefore presumably, it is "a metaphor for the targeted introductions the company facilitates". Certainly...

Overture will begin using "Search Performance" as its new tagline. The new name was conceived internally by GoTo, and the new logo was designed by New York-based Chermayeff & Geismar.

Go to the new Overture.com site for the press release.

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