• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 10, 2005

Search visualization company Groxis Monday announced the free availability of its visualization technology to view Yahoo! search results. The site, Grokker.com, went live Monday morning, and gives the right side of Web users' brains a novel way to experience searching the Internet, while providing sponsored search listings from Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions, formerly Overture. The relationship between Yahoo! and Groxis is not exclusive.

"The new site will raise the awareness of visual search in the marketplace as we roll out a new suite of products in the next year," R.J. Pittman, CEO and founder of Groxis, said in a statement.

Simply put, the Grokker software displays a search query as a palette of colored categories placed on a circular map, to run as a Java plug-in for users' browsers. Each "preview balloon" gives the user a summary of the link's contents, according to a company statement. Grokker's GrokMail feature allows users to save and share results maps, which can be edited and customized, with other Web users.

Before Groxis moved to an ad revenue model with Yahoo!'s help, the San Francisco-based company sold the program for $49 for use with Windows-based and Macintosh systems. With sponsored search listings from Yahoo!, Grokker.com said in a statement that it is testing the use of "highly targeted advertising directly correlated to specific topics within a Grokker map." Grokker's patented visual interface is designed to add value for advertisers and consumers by delivering highly targeted ads.