CNET (NSDQ: CNET) Networks has made a curious buy: it has bought the news and features archives site FindArticles, from its owner LookSmart, for about $20.5 million. FindArticles.com says it has about 11 million resource articles from over 3,000 sources, including magazines, journals, trade publications and newspapers…the archives go back to 1998.

For LookSmart, it means focusing on its core advertising network and publisher services operations. For CNET, I am still a bit confused, unless this will be added to BNET: “CNET Networks understands that access to premium content is critical for our users’ online media experience…The addition of this high-quality content from leading independent publishers allows us to further improve the experience for our users,” said Neil Ashe, CEO of CNET Networks, in a statement. More in the release here. One thing: FindArticles has very high SEO value in Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and others search engines…that might have something to do with it.

Meanwhile, LookSmart (NSDQ: LOOK) also announced its Q3 earnings, and reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, hurt by continued volatility in ad spend among its larger volume advertisers, and impairment charges, reports Reuters. It posted a loss of 19 cents a share, on revenue of $12.6 million. This compares with a loss of 17 cents per share on revenue of $12.2 million.