Freeserve to drop Google searches

Posted on 3 Jul 2003 at 13:06

Britain's biggest ISP Freeserve is to drop using Google as its search provider. Instead it is to announce a deal with Overture to use the listings from FAST - the search engine Overture bought for $70 million back in February.

The deal will be cover the whole Wannadoo's group across Europe and not just Freeserve UK. Insiders at Freeserve say that the decision was made not only because they already had a good relationship with Overture and were impressed with the FAST technology.

Although Freeserve already uses Overture for its pay-per-placement search results, the adoption of FAST (Fast Search & Transfer) is a big win for Overture as it tries establish itself as a credible search engine alternative to the Google tank. By the same token, Google will be disappointed to lose one of Europe's biggest ISPs

Freeserve and Overture sources say the formal announcement will be made next week.