Tralliance, which operates the registry for
the dot-travel Internet domain, introduced a search engine at www.search.travel that enables users to search for
travel companies and organizations with dot-travel addresses. The
search engine is in beta testing.
Search.travel is
geared toward retrieving free results from authenticated travel
companies instead of mingling results from travel and nontravel
companies. Tralliance hopes to earn ad revenue from sponsored links
that run along the right side of its search results
pages.
When a user
performs a hotel search, for example, the Web site probes the
Tralliance database of relevant dot-travel names and gives them
priority placement in its display. That is followed by search
results from dot-com and other Internet domains from Tralliance's
search-engine partner.
Tralliance CEO
Edward Cespedes said Tralliance partnered with a major search
engine to supplement dot-travel search results with search results
from the rest of the Internet, but he declined to identify the
search engine.
The authentication
process "eliminates the need for consumers to sift through pages of
irrelevant results or visit Web sites that may not be reputable,"
Tralliance stated.
Tralliance also
uses sponsored links from the search engine partner and earns
revenue when users click on a sponsored link. Advertisers do not
have to own or use a dot-travel domain.
TV and online ad
campaigns are under way to support Search.travel, Cespedes said.
The TV campaign, which will run through September, is targeted to
reach 35 million homes.
Tralliance expects
9 million to 10 million hits from the Web campaign.
To
contact reporter Dennis Schaal, send e-mail to [email protected].