• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 7, 2005

New York based contextual ad network AlmondNet--which offers a "post-search" technology that allows marketers to target consumers based on search activity after leaving search engines' sites--said this week that it has added Lycos to its client list.

AlmondNet will now distribute Lycos' InSite AdBuyer paid search ads to targeted consumers throughout AlmondNet's post-search network, providing Lycos with a new distribution channel for paid search ads.

Lycos' operating agreement with AlmondNet will help Lycos expand its AdBuyer paid-search distribution throughout the Web, adding value to advertisers' campaigns, said Adam L. Soroca, general manager of search services for Lycos. Launch of distribution of the ads on AlmondNet's network is slated for early May, Soroca said.

As with paid search, advertisers pay for AlmondNet's service on a cost-per-click basis. AlmondNet also buys standard banner inventory from publishers on a cost-per-thousand-impression basis, within which AlmondNet displays text links.

The company's post-search feature works by gathering search data through partnerships with companies--Internet service providers and software companies that track users' search activity--that have access to a Web user's search history.

People who conduct searches for keywords/products/listings are tagged by AlmondNet using an anonymous cookie, explained Roy Shkedi, AlmondNet's founder and chief executive. AlmondNet is able to place the cookie thanks to a "redirect" from its profile providers at the time of the search. When AlmondNet encounters these people again within its distribution network, it delivers a relevant paid listing from one of its partner paid search providers, such as Lycos. The paid listing is placed in a graphical template and delivered in a banner ad format.

Although the tracking process depends on cookies, Shkedi said that AlmondNet is not threatened by recent findings by Jupiter Research and Nielsen//NetRatings that 40 to 50 percent of consumers delete cookies on their personal computers once a month. Shkedi said AlmondNet doesn't retain individual behavior data for longer than 30 days, adding: "Ideally, we need no more than 15 days."

In an ironic twist, the high percentage of Web surfers deleting their cookies potentially increases the number of ads they receive from AlmondNet. This is because the opt-out option AlmondNet offers all consumers relies on a cookie that is placed on the computers of users who have asked not to receive ads in the future. "I never thought of it that way," said an amused Shkedi, "but I guess if people delete our opt-out cookies, they'll end up getting the ads they asked not to get." Shkedi added that AlmondNet in fact does warn users not to delete its cookies for this reason.