Snap, a search engine promising pay-per-action

May 15, 2006 | Matt Marshall | Comments | |
SNAP.gif

Bill Gross has re-launched Snap, the search engine company that charges advertisers in a new way: It makes them pay only when customers actually buy something from them.

The re-launch, which our colleague Elise Ackerman writes about here, is an effort to respond to drawbacks of normal search engine advertising techniques. The pay-per-click model, where advertisers are charged based on how many times people click on their ad, has become less attractive, they say: People are only buying something for every 50 clicks on an ad, down from 20 or 30.

This latest move continues Snap’s efforts to push the envelope on transparency, as we’ve mentioned before.

Snap is a long-shot, because the search market is dominated by the big guys Google and Yahoo. But this advertising feature is an idea worth exploring.

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Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Steve
    Without visitors to snap, paying for advertising is worthless. Isn't this the same thing as affiliate programs?
  • moataz
    Yeah that's their big conundrum; They likely won't get enough people to use their search engine so their advertising model is really moot. I think a better business model for them is to focus on developing a new ad network that uses their PPA ad engine. Perhaps they can go into partnerships with the many ad networks.
  • But should agree that their UI is exciting.

    Regards,
    Nag @
    Startups.in
  • CN
    Er, big deal. Doesn't Revenue.net already do this? They're not venture funded and making somewhere between $50-$80M easy...
  • It has a nice pre-view feature. How can we get rid of a search box if a result is not among the first ones listed?
  • Interestingly enough, this technology would be perfect for AlltheWeb

    added to it the Yahoo Mindset where you are able to use a Slider to go from a Commerical to an Informational SERPs bias

    Of it could be a partnership with Google - where the SERPS also include the individual PageRanks of each listing.


    Regardless of whatever happens to SNAP, this fine AJAX tech / templete DOES have potential and should be reused or licensed.