Search Engine Milestones for June 2004
Notable news and announcements from the web search world during the past month.
Notable news and announcements from the web search world during the past month.
Notable news and announcements from the web search world during the past month. Announcements without links to online versions were received via email.
Warning: The links and descriptions below are from official press releases, and may contain marketing hyperbole, claims or euphemisms not necessarily endorsed by Search Engine Watch.
June 1
Yahoo Japan Switches to YST, Overture
Yahoo Japan is now using Yahoo Search Technology for algorithmic web search, which was previously provided by Google, and Overture will be the provider for all commercial keyword search results on Yahoo Japan. Previously, sponsored search results by Overture were displayed on Yahoo Japan in rotation with results served by other commercial search companies.
New shortcut from Yahoo Search
The Yahoo Search Gas Price Shortcut enables users to get the lowest gas prices for their area with just one click. Just type in gas prices [location” into the Yahoo Search bar.
June 2
NexTag Goes Global With Launch of Comparison Shopping Site for the United Kingdom
NexTag UK provides British online shoppers with the best prices for products in categories like consumer electronics, computer products, home appliances, and mobile phones. The site currently features products from more than 50 British retailers.
June 3
InfoSpace Completes Acquisition of Switchboard Incorporated
InfoSpace acquired Switchboard for approximately $160 million in cash. As of March 31, 2004, Switchboard had approximately $56.4 million in cash and marketable securities, and no debt.
June 9
Ask Jeeves Purchases Tukaroo Inc.
“Since the 2001 acquisition of the Teoma search engine, Ask Jeeves’ strategy has been to build or acquire differentiated, next-generation, and best-in-class products or technologies,” said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Ask Jeeves Inc. “We expect that Tukaroo’s desktop search and information management capabilities will enable Ask Jeeves to deliver a seamless, end-to-end search experience across the desktop and the Internet.”
June 10
More Than 40 Million Consumers in the U.K., France and Germany Used Search Engines in April, According to comScore Networks
A multi-country analysis revealed that the United Kingdom has a more developed online search market than France, Germany, the U.S. and Canada. In April, the average U.K. search engine user conducted 41.8 searches, the highest usage level of the five countries analyzed. Canada was a close second, with just under 40 searches per search engine user, while U.S., French and German users conducted between 31 and 35 searches per month.
June 15
Pricegrabber.com Expands Reach To United Kingdom And Canada
Initially, the U.K. site (uk.pricegrabber.com) will cover computer-related items, software, electronics and photography products while the Canadian site (ca.pricegrabber.com) will mirror all the product categories on the U.S. site.
June 16
Viewpoint Corporation Releases Official Version Of Viewpoint Toolbar 2.0
Viewpoint Toolbar has emerged from beta phase and is now being distributed as the official version of the product. Version 2.0 is speedier with improved and additional features.
June 21
Ask Jeeves Upgrades Site with Binoculars Site Preview Tool
The Binoculars tool enables users to preview their search results before clicking-through to visit the end pages themselves. According to an independent user study conducted by VeriTest, the testing division of Lionbridge, binoculars reduced the number of clicks required to find relevant results by 50-70% per search.
Quigo Launches Content-Targeted Advertising Platform
AdSonar Exchange’s listings system allows advertisers to select the type of site where they want their ad to appear, for example travel, and then provides specific content topics for advertisers to bid on like “Hotels in Boston” or “Golf Vacations.”
June 24
America Online, Inc. to Acquire Advertising.com
Combining America Online’s advertising inventory with the Advertising.com network will provide advertisers with an opportunity to reach more than 140 million Internet users and will enable AOL to offer advertisers an expanded suite of customized solutions, including branding, paid placement, and multimedia delivered on a CPM or performance basis.
June 28
Dex Media, Inc. and InfoSpace Announce Distribution Agreement
Dex business listings will be integrated into InfoSpace’s Switchboard Matrix platform. This flexible online yellow pages platform enables users to narrow their searches based on specific business attributes such as product brands and hours of operation.
June 30
MSN Upgrades MSN Search
New Release Backed by $100 Million Investment to Bring Best Search Experience for MSN Customers; Microsoft Separately Begins Preliminary Alpha Testing Of Next-Generation Search Service
NOTE: Article links often change. In case of a bad link, use the publication’s search facility, which most have, and search for the headline.