GoTo.Com Combines Inktomi Search Capability With Their Market Driven Advertising Model
GoTo.com now provides the most comprehensive results for searches on any topic
Pasadena, Calif.-June 15, 1998. GoTo.com announced an agreement today whereby Inktomi will provide GoTo.com with their award-winning comprehensive search capability as a complement to GoTo.com's market-driven search engine. GoTo.com is the new simpler search engine that allows Web sites to purchase placement within search results using a real-time competitive bidding process. Inktomi's award-winning search engine provides advanced functionality and comprehensive coverage of over 110 million documents.
"Inktomi has created an extremely large and comprehensive index of Web sites," said Jeffrey Brewer, CEO of GoTo.com. "Adding their search capability to our market-driven advertising model ensures our users have access to the most comprehensive search results on the Internet. Where advertisers appear in our search results, GoTo.com has the hands down most relevant results on the Web. And for all other search topics, we are now as good as the best of our competitors. As a result, GoTo.com is the best of the others and more."
Great Results
GoTo.com's various methods of ranking sites guarantee that the listings returned to a consumer during a search are the most appropriate and relevant. High quality e-commerce listings are ranked according to a free market auction process for each search term where GoTo.com requires all advertisers to meet rigorous quality and relevancy standards in order to be included in search results. This enables both larger e-commerce sites and smaller niche targeted sites to drive traffic to their sites in a targeted, cost-effective and accountable way.
To further ensure the best results for any most popular search terms, finely categorized editorial listings, which are generated by a group of topic-focused content experts, are displayed based on site quality and relevance.
Now, in addition to e-commerce listings and editorial suggestions, a partnership with Inktomi allows GoTo.com to provide a comprehensive search capability for all the sites on the Web.
"GoTo.com has created an innovative vehicle for providing users with the companies that offer highly relevant products, services and information," said Alex Edelstein, general manager of Inktomi's search business. "We're pleased to work with GoTo.com to insure that their users are delivered the most comprehensive search results on the Web."
About GoTo.com
GoTo.com is another idealab! company. GoTo.com was founded in late 1997. Jeffrey Brewer, co-founder of CitySearch, was named CEO in February 1998. A proof-of-concept version of the service was introduced at the TED8 conference on February 21, 1998. GoTo.com recently closed its first round of financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and the company officially launched its site and a major consumer marketing campaign on June 1, 1998. GoTo.com is currently generating impressions at the run rate of 25 million per month. The company has 25 employees and is located in Pasadena, CA. GoTo.com can be found at www.goto.com.
About Inktomi
Based in San Mateo, California, Inktomi develops and markets scalable software designed for the world's largest Internet infrastructure and media companies. The company's innovative software delivers high performance and scalability at significant cost savings by leveraging Inktomi's parallel and cluster computing technologies. Inktomi's applications include carrier-class network cache systems and the world's largest search engines. For more information about Inktomi, visit www.inktomi.com.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a leader in start-up venture capital, having invested in over 150 high-tech companies. In the majority of cases, they are the lead investor for a company's first round of financing. The firm focuses on information technology businesses with enormous market potential, and helps entrepreneurs achieve their maximum potential through team building, partnerships, advice and support, as well as investments. By pursuing a people-focused approach to venture capital investing, Draper Fisher Jurvetson continues to fund entrepreneurs with the energy, vision, experience, and desire to build great companies. DFJ'S 40 Internet investments include HotMail, Four11, Kana, Release Software, Tumbleweed Software. Draper Fisher Jurvetson is located in Redwood City, CA and can be found on the Web at www.drapervc.com.
About idealab!
idealab! is the nation's largest Internet incubator, with more than 20 businesses in various stages of development, which employ more than 1,000 people worldwide. Other idealab! companies include CitySearch, the industry-leading local information service; eToys.com, the leading online toy retailer; PeopleLink, Tickets.com and IntraNetics. idealab! is based in Pasadena, California, and can be found on the Web at www.idealab.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding GoTo.com Inc.'s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.