Terra Lycos will unveil the latest version of its HotBot search
site today, which integrates catalogues from Google, Fast Search
& Transfer, Inktomi and Teoma.
Lycos' relaunch of HotBot comes as part of the company's plans to
strengthen its search business after losing ground to the likes of
Google.
The Spanish Internet group acquired HotBot in 1999 when it
purchased Wired Digital. HotBot will now boast catalogues from four
of the more popular search engines on the Web, plus expanded
customisation tools that users can tweak to better define their
query.
"HotBot hadn't been invested in for years," said Tom Wilde, general
manager of Lycos Search. "Since then, the search space has become
more competitive and we thought it was time to extend our appeal to
that segment of the audience."
Users type in a word or phrase and can then select which engine to
search. If they do not find what they are looking for on one
engine, users can select another catalogue to search without
leaving the HotBot site. Combined, the four catalogues have more
than six billion pages of information.
To help users narrow their searches, HotBot offers features such as
date filtering, domain filtering, world region filters and a choice
of 47 languages. Users can also sort results by file types and
filter out offensive language.
The new HotBot home page has a basic design, and will not contain
ads. The search results will have paid-for-placement listings,
however, from Overture Services and Lycos.
According to Wilde, this decision reflects the company's theory
that "contextualised" marketing is more successful.
"We've seen a profound shift from the Net as an entertainment
medium to the Net as a productivity tool," he said. "Putting ads on
the HotBot home page would be counter to our experience."
Lycos already had relationships with both Fast and Inktomi, which
has powered HotBot since the beginning, but Google and Teoma were
new partners.
In the end, Google and Teoma, which powers Ask Jeeves, were won
over by the fact that HotBot reaches a more tech-attuned search
audience, he said.
Lycos plans to offer more speciality catalogues, such as news and
images. Until then, the new HotBot still offers an informational
oasis for serious searchers, and to kick it off the company is
launching a multimillion-dollar print and online campaign.