USA TODAY reports on the amazing turnaround engineered by internet search firm Jeeves. For its recent third quarter, Jeeves reported $75.7 million in revenue, up 178% from the same quarter a year ago, similar to Google’s third-quarter results, which were up 105%, and Yahoo’s 157% revenue growth.
This is a case where better product, not better marketing, has paid dividends. Jeeves chose to invest $4 million in a tiny New Jersey search company, Teoma. That enabled Jeeves to acquire its own search technology and make its search results more relevant to queries. But Jeeves’ most profitable move of all: deciding to partner with rival Google. It agreed to have the online company place its text-based search ads on Jeeves. Google-placed text ads, which appear atop Jeeves’ search results, represent nearly 70% of Jeeves’ income.
Ask Jeeves CEO Steve Berkowitz, left, and Jim Lanzone, senior vice president with the web’s favorite butler.
