LookSmart has announced that its deal to provide Microsoft with listings for its MSN Search service is not being renewed, leaving the company without its most important partner.
LookSmart's deal to power the main web search results for MSN in the United States and elsewhere has been extended for just over a month to run through mid-January 2004. However, LookSmart listings will be dropped from the MSN Search UK site by the middle of this month, according to MSN.
Relevancy Over Revenue - Why drop LookSmart? MSN said testing it did at its MSN Search UK site earlier this year found that dropping the listings increased relevancy.
AOL Renews With Google
AOL has renewed its agreement with Google for search results in a new multiyear deal. Terms of the deal and its exact length haven't been disclosed.
Google's last deal with AOL was signed in May 2002 and called multiyear then, lasting apparently for 17 months. AOL suggested that this latest deal goes for much longer than that.
