AOL Taps Lycos Technology for Euro Searches

America Online, Inc. announced today it will employ Lycos, Inc.’s search engine technology for various AOL services targeted at European users.

Specifically, Lycos’ search technology will be used to boost the European NetFind search engine, a service AOL said generated over 50 million page views within the first few weeks of testing.

AOL claims that more than 200,000 of its one million Internet online service users in places like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom choose to search the Internet with AOL NetFind.

One of the more localized features of NetFind is that it allows users to narrow a search down to Web pages originating from certain countries.

“AOL Europe is the perfect partner for Lycos Europe,” said Christoph Mohn, CEO of Lycos-Bertelsmann Europe, in a statement. “Large membership and high usage, presence in different European countries and a network that is steadily enlarged–these are just a few examples of the advantages that AOL offers us in Europe. We see this partnership as an instrument to extend our top position in the Internet.”

Both the AOL Europe and Lycos Europe services were formed through joint ventures with leading media company Bertelsmann AG.