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Google and AOL renew their partnership

The companies say they'll keep their worldwide partnership going for five more years, in an arrangement that now factors in YouTube and mobile search.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read

Google and AOL announced Thursday that they have extended--and expanded--their global partnership.

The two companies have signed a five-year renewal of their contract that will see Google continue to offer its search services to AOL's "content network and properties." Google will also continue to provide AOL with its advertising products across all of the latter's sites.

In addition, Google will now power AOL's mobile search, while AOL will make all of its video content available on YouTube.

The companies have agreed to a revenue-sharing agreement, but they didn't divulge the details of that deal.

Google and AOL first entered into their partnership five years ago. At the time, Google agreed to invest $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in the Time Warner-owned AOL. Google also gave AOL a $300 million credit for use on the search giant's ad platform. AOL used that credit to invest in advertising across Google.com and publisher Web sites.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the deal for AOL was a provision that allowed Google to "make sure AOL Webmasters architect their content" to increase the site's viability to the search company's Web crawlers. Google spokesperson Marisa Mayer was quick to point out at the time that that arrangement would not "influence [Google's] core search algorithm."

In the newest deal, neither Google nor AOL mentioned the search giant's willingness to help AOL increase its search effectiveness. A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Either way, AOL--which was spun off from Time Warner last year--sounds quite pleased that it was able to continue its relationship with Google.

"Today is another important step in the turnaround of AOL," AOL Chairman and CEO, Tim Armstrong, said in a statement.

It's a turnaround that hasn't exactly been sparkling. Last month, AOL's latest quarterly earnings missed analysts' already low expectations by a good margin.