Good news for marketers from the CEO of Ask Jeeves, Steve Berkowitz who, following the acquisition of Ask Jeeves by IAC, has announced that the number of 'sponsored links' appearing at the top of Ask Jeeves results is to reduce. Apparently tests have shown that reducing the number of ads at the top of the page actually increases the frequency with which people visit the site and stay there. They didn't need research for that - they could've phoned!

The IAC acquisition will also lead to the Ask Jeeves search box appearing on Expedia, CitySearch, Ticketmaster and Match.com - a quick win.

Search Engine Watch