Compaq Computer Corp’s AltaVista search engine will start offering advertisers the option of having their web sites listed at the top of search results listings from next Monday, it emerged yesterday. The listings will be triggered by around 500 keywords. Although AltaVista says the paid links will be marked as such, the move is likely to spur criticism that commercial concerns are compromising a supposedly objective research tool. Rod Schrock, president and CEO of AltaVista.com, told the AP newswire that he thought the move would make the search result page more relevant. Amazon.com was recently criticized for its practice of accepting up to $10,000 from publishers to draw attention to their books, without disclosing that it has done so. It changed that policy on March 1.
There is pressure on AltaVista to make money, in the run up to Compaq’s plans for an initial public offering for the unit. But expenses are high: if AltaVista is slow, it reflects badly on Compaq’s image, so vast arrays of giant servers from the Digital Equipment Corp side of the business are used to handle the massive load. DEC originally spun-off AltaVista in 1996 with the idea of taking it public, but eventually abandoned those plans in June 1997. Advertising on the AltaVista site, including the new listings scheme, is handled by DoubleClick Inc.
