Wired's HotBot Search Center Adds Web's Largest Topical Directory to Enhance Web Navigation

Category-focused Directory Provides New Opportunities for Targeted Advertising

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Wired Digital Inc., the online media division of Wired Ventures, Inc., today announced that Hotbot (www.hotbot.com), the company's award-winning search center, now provides the world's largest editorially reviewed directory of Web content, along with the Web's largest and best-rated search engine.

The directory, provided by LookSmart Limited, makes it easy for users looking for general information on hundreds of topics to find what they want on the Web through hierarchical subject menus that divide online content into 16,800 categories. The directory allows users to begin their searches in general subject areas, such as business, politics, and entertainment, and drill down through menus for more specific information as needed. The directory is continuously updated by a staff of 30 editors who regularly review more than a quarter-million Web sites and links.

"HotBot already provides the absolute best in Web search -- our recent awards provide ample confirmation of that," said Hunter Madsen, senior vice president for marketing at Wired Digital. "Enhancing HotBot with the Web's most comprehensive directory from LookSmart provides HotBot users another way to locate the information they seek. This new improvement reinforces HotBot's position as the Internet's pre-eminent search site."

New Targeted Advertising Opportunities

The addition of the directory increases HotBot's ad inventory while providing additional highly-targeted advertising opportunities. "With more than 16,800 subject categories, advertisers can fine-tune their messaging to deliver specific ads to people who have demonstrated specific interests," said Evan Thornley, CEO and founder of LookSmart. "We are proud to partner with Wired Digital to provide HotBot users with intuitive access to a wealth of online content, and to provide advertisers with a new opportunity to reach their target audiences."

The Web's #1 Rated Search Engine

HotBot indexes over 110 million Web documents every two weeks to provide the largest and freshest searchable index of the Web available today. HotBot's search prowess has won major awards in recent months from the industry's most prestigious sources including CNET, PC Computing, PC Magazine, Internet World, Database, and Searcher magazines.

Advertisers interested in placements on HotBot should contact Rick Boyce, Senior VP for Advertising and Commerce for Wired Digital at 415-276-8440.

About LookSmart

LookSmart Limited, an Internet publishing company providing category-based navigation services on the World Wide Web, is the world's largest editorially reviewed database of web content. LookSmart's unique cascading menu interface provides users with fast, intuitive access to a wealth of highly relevant online content, and provides advertisers with targeted media opportunities within a higher quality editorial environment. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California and can be experienced at www.LookSmart.com.

About Wired Digital:

Wired Digital is the online-media division of Wired Ventures Inc., the publisher of Wired magazine. Wired Digital creates products that help people embrace the emerging technological future. Wired Digital properties include HotWired (www.hotwired.com), the award-winning site about Web technology and culture; Wired News (www.wired.com), the premier service for news of the digital world; and HotBot (www.hotbot.com), the Web's largest and best-rated search engine. Wired Digital is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with satellite offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

NOTE: Wired, HotWired, Wired News, and HotBot are trademarks or service marks of Wired Ventures Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Wired Digital, Inc.

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/CONTACT: Andrew de Vries, Director of Marketing Communications of Wired Digital Inc., 415-276-8542, or andrewd@wired.com/

/Web site: http://home.wired.com and http://www.hotwired.com and http://www.wired.com and http://www.hotbot.com and http://www.LookSmart.com/

CO: Wired Digital, Inc.; Wired Ventures Inc.; LookSmart Limited ST: California IN: CPR MLM ADV SU: PDT

EB-KP -- SFM055 -- 4313 02/09/98 09:30 EST http://www.prnewswire.com