Jeeves takes on Google AdWords and Overture

Search engine Ask Jeeves has launched its own ‘Sponsored Listings’ service to its customers even though it still displays Google Adwords. To encourage Ask Jeeves advertisers to go with the new system, Sponsored Listings advertisers will be placed above the Google Adwords.

As with Google Adwords or Yahoo’s Overture, the system works by an open-ended auction system. Potential advertisers bid on keywords. If successful they appear against search results on the Ask Jeeves syndication network. Ask says that, as with AdWords, the system is fully automated which would appear to be in contrast with Overture which uses a certain amount of human intervention in managing keywords.

The move is the latest by Ask Jeeves’ owners InterActiveCorp. Since the acquisition of Ask Jeeves for $1.85 billion in March of this year, the company’s CEO Barry Diller has stated that his aim is to put Ask Jeeves and his increasing stable of search related properties in among the big three of MSN, Yahoo! and Google.

However, the big three are not likely to allow Ask Jeeves to muscle in on the lucrative sponsored search market easily. Overture’s Richard Firminger said ‘It’s about technology, volume and quality and further fragmentation of the market would be a big issue and will prevent buyers from buying effectively.

Ask Jeeves will beg to disagree. It points out that there is only 13 per cent average audience duplication between Ask Jeeves and the other major search engines. However relying on its own portfolio may not wash with advertisers in Europe. According to recent Hitwise figures Ask Jeeves has just 8.4 per cent of the total search traffic across Europe. Although this puts it marginally ahead of Yahoo!, Overture doesn’t rely on just Yahoo! traffic for its revenues as it has a number of other customers including MSN.

The programme is immediately available to existing advertisers. The programme will be thrown open to new customers at Sponsored Listings on 15 August.