Danny Sullivan reported that New Ask Jeeves Paid Listings Program Said To Come August 1, based on ThreadWatch spotting this AdRants entry. In addition, Danny saw that MediaPost has a thing or two on the rumor.
Remember about a week ago we posted an entry named Would Ask Dare Drop Google AdWords in 2007? Well, possibly they will do it within two weeks and not wait for 2007.
Reportedly, Ask Jeeves' paid search will look similar to Google's system. It primarily will be based on keyword bidding, but with some measure of relevance, such as click-through rates, factored into the advertiser's ultimate cost. The minimum bid will reportedly start at 5 cents. Ask Jeeves' sponsored listings likely will co-exist with Google's, at least for the time being. Google's contract to power sponsored listings on Ask Jeeves doesn't expire until 2007.
Forum thread at Search Engine Watch Forums.
