Search for Charity

August 17, 2007: With a Google Court room battle now long behind them, search engine LOOKLE.com says it’s ready to reinvigorate the way Australians do search.

To create a further incentive for users to consistently search with their engine, LOOKLE.com have established a system that automatically donates one cent to charity, every time a search is undertaken. Users select a charity of choice from LOOLKE’s pre-registered database of organisations and the system calculates the sum with every search undertaken.

“There are around 20 or 30 of these research engines around the world but we’re still the only ones doing it here in Australia,” says Alan Rogers, founder of LOOKLE.com. “One cent might not sound like much but charities can really benefit because the large amount of searches undertaken everyday can amount to a lot of money.”

Launched in 2000, LOOKLE found itself in a head to head with Google after the search giant claimed the LOOKLE logo and name was too similar to the Google branding. After a number of threats of legal action for breach of intellectual property, LOOKLE was able to come through relatively unscathed.

However Rogers admits, competing with the likes of Google can be difficult in the search market and smaller start-ups need stand-out features to push their services. Rogers launched the charity initiative back in February 2007 and is progressively seeing the momentum build.

“The beauty of the system is that everyone gains,” says Rogers. “Users get to feel good by helping a worthy causes, and as more people learn about LOOKLE our advertisers get greater exposure.”

Rogers says he is also looking for more charities to join. “It’s a free service for them and they should apply via LOOKLE’s website.”

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