Search Engine Journal says that Oodle, “the search engine for local classifieds,” is getting cozy with the Washington Post. They’ve got a deal to host and power the online classifieds section of the Post’s Express paper, which is aimed at a younger demographic and handed out free at DC Metro stops.
Right now Express is only available online as a PDF, but a full-blown site will soon be up and running. Reportedly, Express’ classifieds search will give preference to Post advertisers before getting down to the rest of Oodle’s listings. SEJ’s Greg Sterling thinks this is exactly the kind of partnership newspapers should be trying to forge in order to enhance their local relevance online, and says, “the comprehensiveness of the new site for the DC-area should make it an attractive destination for area residents and may give Craigslist a real run for its money.”
In other vertical news… Marketing Pilgrim reports that blog/RSS search engine IceRocket is about to be snapped up by Think Partnership, a hefty conglomeration of sites that includes online dater Cherish.com, affiliate marketing network Primary Ads, and a host of others.
IceRocket co-owner Mark Cuban says that both parties are “focused on providing the highest integrity services to our users and building core enabling technology that can eliminate click fraud and ‘splogging.’” Also called spam blogging, splogging is the practice of earning ad revenue from plagiarised content, and it’s a problem that promises to keep IceRocket’s hands full. Read more in the press release.
