{"id":1205,"slug":"goto-overture-1998-paid-placement-auction-adwords-ancestor","title":"GoTo.com (later Overture), 1998 — pioneered paid-placement auctions; the direct ancestor of AdWords","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["lead-gen-directories","search-engine-history"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** GoTo.com (founded 1998 by Bill Gross / Idealab, later renamed **Overture Services**) pioneered the paid-placement model where businesses *bid* to rank and paid **per click**. This was the direct commercial ancestor of [[adwords-launched-oct-23-2000-350-advertisers]].\n\n**Source:** Internet Archive / contemporaneous press; summarised in the long-form [[webhistory-02-google-pagerank-rise-research-notes]].\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** The \"buy your placement\" surface predates Google by two years. Useful as a one-line origin note when telling the AdWords story.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-businesses-found-on-web-google-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: How businesses got found on the web — a then→now timeline (Google-focused, SMB lens, June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"adwords-launched-oct-23-2000-350-advertisers","title":"Google AdWords launched October 23, 2000 with 350 advertisers; shifted from CPM to CPC auction in February 2002","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-18T00:10:55.773Z","updated_at":"2026-06-18T00:10:55.773Z"}