Dulles, Va. - AOL has launched a new paid search marketplace, allowing advertisers to purchase sponsored links that will appear next to AOL's search results.

AOL said that it has tested the system, built on minority investor Google's AdWords technology, with about 30 advertisers over the past five months.

"Our advertising clients have told us they want the ability to target their search advertising to users of AOL Search," said Mike Kelly, the president of AOL Media Networks.

"This will let marketers better coordinate their advertising."

Google purchased a 5% stake in AOL for $1 billion in December 2005.

AOL also said that it has made several enhancements to its search tool. Chief among them are a local search feature, currently in beta testing, which is designed to make it easier for users to find locations and reviews for local businesses, and a new comparison shopping search feature.

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