AltaVista Revamps Search Site

AltaVista is trying to woo new users and advertisers with a revamp of its Internet search service that offers both enhanced search tools as well as more targeted marketing opportunities.

The company's new offerings were unveiled Tuesday, along with a new user interface and logo, as part of a concerted effort to breathe new life into the search property as it confronts the growing popularity of fresh-faced rivals such as Google.

For users, AltaVista is serving up new features such as the ability to search documents stored in .pdf file format, assisted search in four additional languages, and an updated news search. The Palo Alto, California, company also said that it has ticked up the frequency with which it refreshes its search results, saying that 50 percent of its results are now refreshed daily.

Stopping Pop-Ups

AltaVista's enhanced search functions are aimed at improving the user experience, the company said. In the same vein, AltaVista began phasing out pop-up ads from its U.S. site in August, and plans to begin eliminating them on other country sites over the next several months.

But while the company is trying to minimize users' pop-up ad ire, it is still courting advertisers with new promotional slots on its home page, ads linked to user searches, seasonal promotions, and other offerings.

"We believe that the more focused advertising becomes, the less intrusive and more effective it is in the search environment," AltaVista Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Lehman said in a statement.

AltaVista's new push is an effort to balance the needs of users and advertisers in what is a particularly fickle online market. The move comes after the company has sought to diversify itself by offering corporate search tools.

The new offerings, such as expanded news search, dubbed News 2.0, and multimedia searches, are aimed at rivals like Google, which have recently gained ground in the market.

But with this launch, AltaVista is refocusing on the search business and concentrating on product development, the company said.