AOL Gets Aggressive With Search; Increases Pageviews With Client Software Change

When version 9.1 of the AOL client software hit the scene, the first thing I noticed is that you could use the AOL landing page inside of the client software without needing to login. This update will most likely lead to a huge increase in monetizable pageviews for AOL. When you load the 9.1 client software, you automatically see the AOL home page and can browse as you'd like. Once you need a personalized feature (mail, chat, etc.) you are asked for your login information. When you submit your information, the homepage reloads and bingo bango another pageview even though there was no reason for the reload. There's a bonus check coming to someone in Dulles!

The other change looks like it was made live today and I've embedded a screenshot below. When you sign in (not the initial load as noted above), another window now pops up over the main AOL page that is basically a large search box. The AOL search is "enhanced" by Google. The other options (jobs, images, shopping, etc.) all link to the specific section with the AOL client software.

Considering that the main AOL Web page already features the same search options, I am not sure why they decided to place this popup window on top of the AOL Web page. I'd prefer that they added this as a toolbar on the AOL client software instead. There's no way to turn off the window permanently, you have to close it every time. It's big and bulky - certainly not a great usability choice AOL.