Ask Jeeves leaves Overture for Google text ads

(July 19 2002, update July 20) This is the story: Google is probably the most popular search engine in the world. However, it is also trying to become the most important pay per click text ad deliverer on the market, a market that has previously been totally dominated by Overture in North American and Overture and Espotting in Europe.

The first great victory in Google's struggle towards pay per click supremacy was when AOL decided to start using both Google search results and Google pay per click "AdWords Select" on their portal. AOL UK already presents Google text ads, while the American original will commence this summer.

Still, would it be possible for Google to deliver pay per click ads to a search engine competitor? After all, Overture is no regular search engine portal anymore, and does not compete with its portal customers, but what about Google?

Yes, Google can. On the 18th of July the search engine company Ask Jeeves announced that it has selected the Google AdWords program, a paid listings advertising service for use on Ask Jeeves and Teoma search sites.

Under the agreement, Ask Jeeves and Google will share the more than $100 million in estimated revenue to be generated from Google's advertisers on Ask Jeeves' search sites over three years.

In addition, the agreement will also enable Ask Jeeves to syndicate the Google Adwords sponsored links program along with Ask Jeeves' Teoma search technology, proprietary paid listings product, branded ad units and paid inclusion products.

"The deal with Google also improves our returns substantially," said Skip Battle, chief executive officer of Ask Jeeves, Inc. "We expect our revenue from paid listings on Ask Jeeves and Teoma.com to more than double from Q3 to Q4 and beyond as a result of this agreement."

This is a tough blow for Overture, but even European Espotting is nervous. In a comment a company spokesman says that 'The deal clearly illustrates the vast differences in both the nature and the competitive landscape of the US and European search markets. They are very different markets and just because a deal is struck in the US that does not guarantee that it will transfer across the Atlantic. Ask Jeeves UK have already publicly stated that the deal does not affect on their relationships in the UK."

The first Google text ad will appear on Ask Jeeves in September.

More search engine news...

The Pandia Post is our free bimonthly newsletter on Internet searching, search engines and directories.

We will give you the latest news from the world of Internet exploring, useful tips on how to improve your searching skills or search engine ranking, as well as information on the development of the Pandia Search Central.

We will never give your address to any other company or organization.