ChaCha, which combines traditional algorithmic search with human-assisted search, has announced a video distribution deal with Blinkx. ChaCha’s new video search will be entirely powered by Blinkx and potentially incorporated into ChaCha’s live search sessions. ChaCha uses chat functionality to enable a staff of paid, expert guides to interact with searchers in real time. This is a big differentiator potentially but the site has struggled in the past to deliver on the promise of assisted search.

I’ve periodically used the site and the guide interaction has improved considerably from launch last September. I conducted a couple of searches this morning and found the process to be smoother and more effective than in the past.

Related Topics: Search Engines: Answer Search Engines | Search Engines: Video Search Engines

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling