AOL launches revamped homepage
15 September 2004
America Online is currently testing a new design of its homepage.
The redesigned AOL.com reportedly allows users to further customise the page. It features a layout of different information boxes for which customers can choose an array of content feeds, including news headlines or local movie listings.
Web search is prominently featured at the top of the test page and there is a dedicated area for commercial search links.
AOL currently uses Google's sponsored search results and receives a percentage of the revenue when customers click on links. The company received around $72 million in revenue from commercial search last year, up from $31 million the year before, according to CNET News.com.
The AOL site also includes a number of cosmetic changes and simplifications, as well as more icons to link to other company-branded sites, such as email, instant messaging, shopping and directory services.
"We started beta testing as of Friday evening," AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley said, declining to comment on when the site would launch officially.
The beta site will be available to AOL members only when it launches, but executives at Time Warner executives have voiced their intention to make AOL.com more appealing to the general web audience.
AOL also confirmed that it will unveil a new comparison shopping site called In-Store shortly. The site will be in direct competition with similar services on Yahoo, Google and Shopping.com and AOL will get paid every time someone clicks on a vendor ad.
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