Overture announces growth plans

• Apr. 14, 2003

The web really is going global (finally).

No longer is it a North American phenomenon.  While it’s true that about 2/3 of internet users are from the US and Canada, there is growing acceptance of the web as a viable advertising alternative.  This can be seen in the rapid expansion plans made by the major search engines and portals.

We told you recently about Google’s new European base of operations in Dublin and how Google plans on going global.

Today Overture announced plans to also open an office in Dublin and base its European headquarters there as well.  Overture also plans on expanding into seven new markets this year alone:  Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Scandinavia and South Korea.  This is in addition to its recent acquisitions of FAST and Altavista.

Although Google and Espotting already have a strong presence in the European PPC market, Overture plans to become a major competitor with these two.  Overture already has a strong PPC presence in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan, and had previously announced a deal with Daum, one of the largest South Korean ISP’s to provide paid listings on their network of sites.

This expansion is smart, considering that Overture may be on somewhat shaky ground with its two largest customers who have both openly admitted they wish to explore their own search alternatives.  Yahoo may be looking at purchasing the service while MSN plans to develop its own search.

Rob Sullivan
Production Supervisor
Searchengineposition.com
Search Engine Positioning
specialists