14 DAY TRIAL // In this effort to gain a larger share of the online advertising market, AOL decided to introduce a new search engine, called AOL Search.
Following the Amazon.com example, AOL is improving its search features and is trying to win market share form Google and Yahoo. In the year 2004, Google was the leader of the Web advertising, selling about half of search advertising in United States. AOL Search will sort results by geography and topic and is offering a suggestion tool. The technology for AOL Search was developed by a software company, called Vivisimo. Beside that, the Web tools introduced yesterday provide users with more personalized search features and snapshots at the top of each page presenting information on topics including local movies and sports results.
AOL Search will combine editorial content from its Web brands including AOL CityGuide, Sports Illustrated, Singingfish.com, Pinpoint, and BizRate with the traditional listing of aggregated search results provided by Google. This technique is commonly referred to as "skewing."
Local merchants also have an inroad into AOL Search. AOL will work with Ingenio to create Internet advertising solutions for small businesses that may not have a presence on the Web through the Ingenio Pay Per Call platform. The platform literally requires merchants and service providers to pay per call when customers telephone a specially crafted number found in their advertisement.
Another reason to introduce this service is that AOL has lost subscribers for seven consecutive quarters. In the third-quarter America Online, the biggest Internet access company in the USA, has increased revenues by 1 percent, to $2.1 billion and this was the effect of the purchase in August of Advertising.com, which helps companies plan and track Web-based marketing campaigns. In 2004, the America Online's ad sales were about $1 billion, according to the chief executive of Time Warner, Richard D. Parsons