Amazon, Inktomi extend pact

Amazon.com has expanded a deal with Inktomi that enables detailed product pages on the online retailer's site to appear in Inktomi-driven Web-search result listings.

Inktomi's technology and site index drive the Web-search tools on such heavily trafficked sites as MSN.com. But its search technique doesn't pick up every page on the Web. Pages that change frequently and pages that are deeply linked within a Web site, such as Amazon's product pages, may be overlooked.

Inktomi and Amazon announced Tuesday that Amazon had agreed to sign up for the search company's Index Connect program. Index Connect lets companies ensure that such commonly overlooked pages are turned up by search tools that are based on Inktomi's index.

Without Index Connect, for example, an MSN search for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" might return a link to Amazon.com's home page. But under the new system, the result listings would also include a link to the specific page featuring that book.

Amazon had a related deal with Inktomi prior to this, but that agreement didn't cover the e-tailer's entire catalog. The new relationship will include Amazon's full catalog, including some products from its retail partners such as Target, an Inktomi representative said.

Inktomi said Amazon will feed catalog information to its search index using XML, and will be able to update the index with timely data such as free shipping promotions or other discounts.

Inktomi competitors such as Overture and Google offer programs that let customers pay to boost their rankings in search results. Inktomi's Index Connect program only ensures inclusion, the representative said.