July 15, 2005
Claria Has Search Plans
Claria plans to test a behavior-based search engine as part of an effort to revamp its business, according to the adware company.
Under its Vista Labs unit, Claria is testing a search engine that will use the Web habits of its pool of 40 million users to reorder search results. Category giants Yahoo and Google are both trying to make search results more personalized by tapping into prior search behavior. Claria asserts its platform will yield more relevant results by also taking into account Web site behavior.
Claria accomplishes this by examining user search behavior through its tracking software installed on about 50 million computers. Its technology ranks Web pages based on the behavior of its pool of users, including the results' click-through rate, how many pages were viewed and the time spent on the site. An information button next to each Web search listing shows the information for each result, along with where the Web page ranks on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
