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America Online and Google Announce
Expanded Alliance as AOL Enhances Search Capabilities
Companies Strengthen Alliance, AOL Adds New Features
To Integrated AOL® Search Service, Providing AOL Members Smarter,
More Intuitive Search Experience
DULLES, VA and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, October 7, 2003 -
America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company,
and Google, developer of the award-winning Google search engine, today
announced an expanded multi-year alliance for AOL® Search that will
bring members search results from the industry-leading Google search
engine as well as Google's highly relevant sponsored links. America
Online today also announced a series of enhancements to AOL Search to
provide a more intuitive search experience.
"As we expand our agreement with Google, we're
continuing to innovate our integrated AOL Search service to help members
zero in faster on exactly what they are looking for," said David
Gang, Executive Vice President of AOL Products. "By offering best-of-breed
search from Google together with the ability to search all of AOL, we're
giving our members what they've told us they want most: quick, direct
access to relevant results. More than 75% of AOL members use AOL Search
each month, and Google's award-winning search function and targeted
paid search listings have proven extremely popular with our users."
Under the new multi-year agreement between America
Online and Google, tens of millions of users of America Online's brands
will have increased access to Google's wide index of billions of documents,
through Google's advanced search technology. As previously announced,
Google is also available within the search areas of the AOL service
in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico,
Argentina, Japan, Australia and Canada. In addition, Google provides
relevant sponsored links within the search areas of the AOL service
in Japan and Canada.
In addition, the companies have extended their marketing
agreement, enabling Google to continue providing AOL and CompuServe
members and users of AOL.COM and Netscape its targeted paid search listings
product, which offers a selection of listings ranked by relevancy and
other factors, from Google's rapidly growing base of advertisers, now
more than 150,000 worldwide. As part of this extension, Google now provides
relevant sponsored links on the business listings and directories of
the AOL Yellow Pages.
"We're very pleased that we have expanded
our relationship with America Online, the world's leader in interactive
services," said Sergey Brin, Google's Co-Founder and President
of Technology. "Google is committed to working with America Online
to help enhance the overall experience for the millions of AOL members
and users around the world by enabling them to find the information
and services they need."
New Features in AOL Search
America Online also announced a variety of improved search capabilities.
The new, enhanced AOL Search is an integral part of the AOL® and
AOL® for Broadband services, including the latest version, AOL®
9.0 Optimized. AOL Search delivers Google search results plus a powerful
layer of uniquely relevant, timely, localized content and programming
from across the AOL service. This value-add layer is programmed by AOL
Search editors to provide a smarter and more intuitive online search
experience to help AOL members find what they are looking for faster
and more easily.
Among the enhancements America Online has made to AOL
Search are:
- New Smart box search tool - as members type a search
query into the AOL 9.0 Optimized quickstart toolbar field, AOL Search
automatically presents relevant choices and suggestions - such as
Keywords, Web sites and company information.
- New navigation tabs - let members quickly access
Web sites, Images, and AOL Communities that match their query. From
the new People Search tab, members can find topic-specific AOL Chat
Rooms, Message Boards, Home Pages and Groups that match their interests.
- Enhanced local searching capabilities - allow members
to quickly find local businesses, services or national chain stores.
At the top of the results page, they will get a personalized list
of the relevant businesses closest to them based on the zip code they
have on file with AOL.
- Enhanced music/entertainment programming - allows
members to search tens of thousands of enhanced listings for their
favorite music artists to hear their latest single, see their latest
video and much more.
- Hot Searches - a new programming feature that presents
search topics gaining in popularity on the AOL service in real time.
Members can browse a range of topics or select topics from a single
channel, such as Music.
- AOL Search has also made numerous improvements based on member requests
to make search results pages easier to scan, with a larger font size
for text and bolded search terms, as well as a new "Open a Window"
feature allows members to view more pages. By clicking on the "Open
a Window" icon they can open a new Web site while keeping the results
page and other Web sites open. In addition, with AOL's Web Pop-Up Blocker,
AOL members can take control when searching the Web on AOL by blocking
most Internet popups.
Central to the AOL Search design is the way it presents
the best of AOL and the Web with local, timely and relevant search results,
along with exclusive content, right at top of the search results pages.
For example, if a member is looking for a plumber, they'll first see relevant
links to plumbers in their area; when searching for breaking news stories
about people or events, links to headlines from leading news outlets are
presented. In addition to Web results from Google, AOL Search gives members
a one-stop place from which to find contextual results from across the
AOL service -- whether they're looking for an Internet site, news, images
and people, local resources and AOL Yellow Pages listings, movies, stock
quotes, maps and directions, and more.
AOL Search is available from a number of convenient entry
points on the AOL service, including the AOL Client toolbar, the Welcome
Screen, contextual links within content and programming areas, as well
as from the AOL® Companion, which allows members to find information
online quickly when using another application.
About Google
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around
the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D.
students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property
in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program, which
is the largest and fastest growing in the industry, provides businesses
of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web
experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices
throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit
www.google.com.
About America Online
America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL Time Warner Inc.
(NYSE:AOL). Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader
in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce
services.
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Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other
company and product names
may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
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