LookSmart Takes a Vertical Approach to Search
 

San Francisco, California - October 28, 2005 - The LookSmart search engine has launched 161 new vertical search sites in a variety of categories, in an effort to deliver more relevant search results.

The sites are divided into 13 vertical categories for a total of 181 sites. LookSmart now claims to be the largest single provider of vertical search destinations on the web. The Company's "brand promise" is to provide consumers with essential information for passions, needs and repetitive tasks encountered in everyday life.

David B. Hills, President and CEO of LookSmart, commented on the new vertical approach to search, ''It was clear to us that consumers want a trusted brand to provide vertical search and content so they can truly find what is essential and not exhaustive for subjects that are critical to their lives. We've designed the sites and functionality to augment what consumers do with more generalized and portal services.''

For each vertical category, LookSmart has developed a variety of niche sites. For example, LookSmart's Money web sites include: mutual funds, real estate, retirement, savings, stocks, taxes and more. Unlike many other sites, content and articles found on LookSmart's vertical search sites are freely accessible and from a wide variety of sources.

LookSmart's new broader set of sites make it simpler and easier for advertisers of all sizes to locate the audience they are after and effectively meet their online marketing goal. Advertisers can now reach these highly targeted audiences with search ads, banners and other creative formats.

Mr. Hills stated, ''Few people thought that cable would transform the television industry like it did. They thought the consumer and advertiser would not adopt and embrace vertical alternatives. The online medium and search in particular have these same elements. LookSmart is in a unique position to lead this evolution of consumer and advertiser choice on the web. I'm extremely proud of the LookSmart team and we all look forward to this new chapter in our company's development.''

Visitors to any LookSmart vertical site will find relevant articles, blogs, news and web results delivered within a robust tool set that allows them to find what they want, save what they need and share with other like minded people, without lengthy registration or personalization.

To learn more aobut the new LookSmart search process, please visit: www.looksmart.com .