AOL to Spotlight GoTo Searches

Boosting its visibility on one of the highest-trafficked Internet property networks, pay-for-placement search engine GoTo.com will shell out $50 million to distribute its search capabilities on America Online, AOL.COM and Netscape Netcenter.

The multi-year deal expands upon two previous agreement between GoTo and Netcenter and CompuServe. The deal calls for GoTo to be the only pay-for-placement search engine used by AOL.

GoTo’s search features will also continue to appear on Netcenter’s NetSearch page, through the earlier agreement, which allows Netcenter users to select among search providers.

The deal gives GoTo increased access to AOL’s 23 million members, as well as members of and visitors to AOL.com and Netcenter.

“We are delighted to announce this agreement with AOL and to have the opportunity to offer our highly targeted listings to AOL’s millions of members,” said GoTo chief executive officer Ted Meisel.

“We believe our advertisers will benefit from the quality and volume of the traffic from AOL’s members,” he added. “Not only is this our largest affiliate deal to date, this agreement is important because it provides GoTo with the opportunity to generate significant financial upside.”

“GoTo provides a cost-effective way to market and advertise on the Internet, and is the clear market leader in leveraging a pay-for-performance model to deliver high quality listings to users,” AOL Interactive Services president Barry Schuler said.