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June 12, 2009

Digital TV: A Day of Reckoning

As television broadcasters move from analog to digital signals today, there's no shortage of businesses selling consumers services and products not prepared for the transition.

A Google search this morning for "digital tv" turned up these sponsored links.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 22, 2009

U.K. Conservatives Snap up Budget-Related Google Ads

The U.K. Conservative party has used Google PPC ads to drive traffic to a site denouncing today's budget from Labour Chancellor, Alistair Darling.

Searches for key phrases from the Chancellor's budget speech, such as "scrappage scheme," "tobacco duty," and "budget deficit," throw up ads pointing to the Conservative site, on which the party offers a rebuttal of what it describes as a "dishonest budget."

Incidentally, it appears U.K. newspaper the Telegraph has either cottoned on to the idea, or had a similar one itself. A number of those terms also invoke ads pointing to the newspaper's own online coverage.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Morning Reads: MySpace CEO Ousted, PBS Video Player, Google Profiles

MySpace's CEO and other execs may soon get their walking papers. According to TechCrunch, CEO Chris DeWolfe will be fired as will other members of the "core" MySpace executive team. The sudden changes come courtesy of recently appointed News Corp. digital honcho Jonathan Miller.

Still think we're living in an era of video platform consolidation? More evidence to the contrary: PBS is the latest, after CBS's TV.com in January, to roll out an elegant new experience for long-form video content. Full-length shows include The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Nova, Frontline, American Masters and American Experience. According to PBS, the PBS Kids Go video player it launched last year is streaming more than a million clips a week. (release)

In the Google age your identity boils down to what people can glean from a name query search. With the launch of new public profiles, Google is offering individuals a little more control over the outcome of those queries. Some are calling it a run at social platforms. While that may be a stretch, it is an important moment in the evolution of digital identity management.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 7, 2009

Quote of the Day: Google's Eric Schmidt on Newspapers

Speaking at the Newspaper Association of America convention today, Eric Schmidt went out of his way to make nice with newspapers -- even as those same papers railed against Google for leading Web users to dissociate quality content from the publisher brands that produce it. The following snippets come from a Q&A transcript published by Poynter Online:

Question: You've been quoted as saying a number of times that there should be a "flight to quality," that there's an awful lot of garbage out on the Internet --

Schmidt: Let me just say precisely: It's a sewer out there.

Question: Recognizing that the brands in this room for the most part are credible brands and --

Schmidt: I would say 100% are credible.

Later, Schmidt said he admired the intelligence and speed with which newspapers greeted the first wave of Internet growth in the late '90s. The problem came later, he said:

The act after that is a much harder question. It's how do you keep engagement? How do you avoid being just mediated with a set of stories that are aggregated with your brand on them, which is what's happened to some newspapers?

...My own bias, by the way, is a technology one: I think the sites are slow. They literally are not fast. They're actually slower than reading the paper, and that's something that can be worked on on a technical basis.

photo credit: NAA

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amazon Cuts Off Affiliate Search Bidding

If you're a merchant with a large affiliate program, you've certainly given plenty of thought to whether referral partners should be permitted to buy search keywords. Allowing the practice drives traffic and leads, but it also raises keyword prices and fills the coffers of Google and other search engines.

Amazon, which runs one of the Web's largest affiliate programs, has just come down on the side of controlling keyword costs. As of May 1, U.S. and Canadian referral partners in the Amazon Associates program will no longer be reimbursed for driving conversions through paid keyword bidding, the company said.

Not only that, but anyone using search ads to send traffic to Amazon product pages will have their accounts shut down. Of course Amazon phrases this in the kindest possible terms: "As long as you stop your paid search activities relating to our US and Canadian sites and otherwise remain in compliance with the terms of the Associates Operating Agreement (e.g., by sending users to our websites through links on your site), your Associates account will not be closed," the company notes in a FAQ on the policy change.

It seems possible, based on that aggressive step, that Amazon is in a hurry to reduce its search ad spend. I'd be curious to just know how much this move will shrink that spend, and conversely how much it will cost Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 6, 2009

Deadly Earthquake Strikes; Advertisers Slow to React

Nearly 18 hours after a deadly earthquake struck L'Aquila in Italy, a Google search for "L'Aquila" displayed sponsored links for four travel sites promoting hotel reservations and deals in the medieval Italian town.

"Visiting L'aquila? Official L'aquila Travel Site! Find Great Air and Hotel Deals," reads Kayak.com's ad.

Three other reservation sites -- TripAdvisor.com, Italy-Bookings.com, and Venere.com -- had apparently bid on the keyword, "L'Aquila," to appear as a sponsored link on Google. But none pulled their ads after the earthquake hit.

A click on the link for Italy-Bookings.com leads a Web site visitor to a page that reads, "page not found," while the other sponsored links lead to landing pages promoting "hotel deals" in L'Aquila.

More than 100 people were reported dead and 1,500 injured in the region about 60 miles north of Rome.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 3, 2009

Is Twitter in Talks with Google? Of Course!

Twitter's response to the salivating rumors that it's in talks with Google was similar to my own: Well, duh.

In a blog post titled "Sometimes We Talk," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone noted that the company communicates regularly with other players in the Web landscape. "It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects," he said. "Our goal is to build a profitable, independent company and we're just getting started."

Duly noted Biz. And now that the tech gossip beast has been fed for the week, can we move onto something with substance?

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

March 30, 2009

Mzinga Layoffs, Part 2

Like piranhas that sense blood, Mzinga's rivals and others are circling the wounded social network software vendor that laid off 40 earlier this month.

Sparta Social Networks, Lithium, and consultancies have apparently bid on the keyword, "mzinga," so they show up as a sponsored link when someone searches for "mzinga" on Google.

As seen on Google this morning:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 26, 2009

Google Invests in 'In-Photo' Ad Firm Pixazza

Photo-based ad network Pixazza has secured backing from Google as part of a $5.75 funding round involving several investors, CNET and others reported this week.

The start-up is developing a platform that harkens to the fabled "Jennifer Aniston's Sweater" scenario for commerce-enabled television. Except that instead of TV, Pixazza is enhancing online photos with product information.

The company's system will require no additional ad real estate from publishers, who can use it add a layer of commerce to its photos. Consumers can then mouse over an image to navigate products.

From the media seller's perspective, it's conceptually similar to in-text advertising. On the buy side, Pixazza claims to be integrated with 60 merchants representing 2 million products -- possibly through their affiliate programs. Merchants include Zappos and Amazon.

Companies such as DoubleClick, United Virtualities and VideoClix.tv have sought to develop such enhanced product placement technologies for video, but few have done so for simple photographs. NBC and Hasbro are among the advertisers to have experimented with the video variety.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 23, 2009

Quote of the Day: Departing Design Lead Attacks Google's Data Fetish

"When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions."

"Yes, it's true that a team at Google couldn't decide between two blues, so they're testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can't operate in an environment like that. I've grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle."

-Douglas Bowman, visual design lead at Google, blogging his reasons for leaving the company. Bowman said he joined in hopes of guiding Google toward a new design approach, but the company wouldn't go there. "I won't miss a design philosophy that lives or dies strictly by the sword of data," he said.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 12, 2009

Reports on Parliament's Behavioral Targeting Talk Miss the Point

A number of news reports from yesterday's Parliamentary event on behavioral advertising appear to have missed the crux of the debate, and have, in my opinion, wrongfully implied that members of the panel were denouncing the practice of behaviorally targeted online advertising.

Speaking with ClickZ today, Robb Topolski, a software engineer and U.S. Federal Communications Commission panel member who sat on yesterday's panel, said, "For the panel, the primary position was, 'The middle of the Internet should not be used for an electronic monitoring point.' Certainly there are some who will want to discuss the privacy and data storage implications of 'traditional' behavioral advertising as performed by Google or Revenue Science or many others. It's an important, but different debate."

Contrary to some reports, Tim Berners-Lee, for instance, did not express concerns surrounding behavioral targeting in general, but instead questioned the way in which data for this targeting is collected. During yesterday's session, these questions applied specifically to ISP-level targeting offered by companies such as Phorm and NebuAd, and not to the publisher-led and ad network solutions currently on offer from firms such as Audience Science (formerly Revenue Science), Specific Media, and as of yesterday, Google.

In fact, Berners-Lee seemingly expressed support for the practice, providing that data was not intercepted by ISPs themselves. "I don't have a problem with behavioral advertising; I think it's an improvement, but there are so many ways to do it without ISPs snooping," he said.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 11, 2009

Has the Search Ad Slump Arrived? It Depends How You Define Slump.

Google's unexpectedly great fourth quarter earnings may have been its last truly upbeat news for awhile, as indicators begin to pile up suggesting the recession has caught up to search.

Agencies have begun to say publicly and privately that their clients are spending less on search advertising -- or at least less than they'd expected. Razorfish noted last week that while the category has so far been relatively inoculated against the fall-off in demand that's hurt display ad sellers, that will change. "We do anticipate that as budgets tighten, search will also be impacted by the economy this year," the agency said in its Digital Outlook Report this week.

Meanwhile a survey of search marketing pros suggests spending will increase by about 9 percent this year, to $14.7 billion. That may sound like the search business is still riding a gravy train, but the growth rate would be less than half what was projected in 2007.

"Issues constraining growth include the global economic recession, which affects both demand and supply-side factors, including a drop in inventory in certain categories as consumers scale back spending (and consequently searches)," according to the report. "However, the global recession also means advertisers are looking for the accountability and efficiency provided by search engine marketing."

The recession's ongoing impact on search budgets will become more clear when Google reports its Q1 earnings next month. Eric Schmidt, speaking at an investor conference last week, acknowledged Google is "not immune" to the increasingly generalized economic pain. However any negative impact on the search marketplace as a whole will likely mean slower growth for Google; bets are the company will not lose money. As Schmidt put it in January, "We're certainly prepared to get through this no problem."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

February 18, 2009

Another Small Fry Sues Google

A B2B search engine claims Google has rigged its prices to discourage competition.

TradeComet, based in New York City, said yesterday it's filed an antitrust lawsuit in a New York federal, accuses Google of "engaging in predatory conduct to block search traffic by imposing massive, unjustified price increase."

Google told the Associated Press, as of late Tuesday, it had not reviewed the allegations and reiterated its position that businesses have other online advertising options besides Google.

TradeComet operates SourceTool.com, a search engine designed to connect buyers of industrial products to suppliers. It alleges that Google in 2006 raised the minimum bid on keywords used in SourceTool ads. Instead of paying from 5 cents and 10 cents per ad clicked, SourceTool had to pay $5 and $10 per click.

TradeComet joins a growing roster of small companies and individuals suing Google.

For instance, software company LimitNone, claimed Google misappropriated its trade secrets for its Google Apps online service, and filed suit last year, according to this Cnet News report.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 13, 2009

Valentine's Day, as Seen on Google

Is the way to someone's heart through their stomach?

Maybe that's what Papa Johns has in mind with this offer, which appeared in a sponsored link on Google today for "Valentine's Day."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 10, 2009

U.K. Politicians Turn to Google for Economic Advice

U.K. Conservative party leader, David Cameron, has recruited Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, to help reinvigorate Britain's ailing economy.

Cameron today announced the formation of an Economic Recovery Committee, of which Schmidt will be a member, to help formulate policy proposals "for the long term reconstruction of Britain's economy."

The committee will meet fortnightly, but given that the majority of its members are based in London, or at least the U.K., it's difficult to see exactly how much input Schmidt is likely to offer. Alongside the Google CEO, other members include Shadow Cabinet ministers Ken Clarke, Oliver Letwin, and William Hague, and various individuals from the U.K. business and finance sectors.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 15, 2009

In First-Ever Layoffs, Google Dismisses 100 Recruiters

After dismissing a large number of contractors late in 2008, Google has taken the additional step of cutting 100 internal recruiting positions.The company's first official layoffs come as no surprise, but they're an important milestone nonetheless.

In a blog post on the move, VP People Operations Laszlo Bock wrote, "Given the state of the economy, we recognized that we needed fewer people focused on hiring."

He expressed regret that the the people who "helped build this company" are the first to get the axe. "We are enormously grateful for everything they have done," he said.

We're not aware of layoffs or hiring freezes in Google's sales or ad ops organizations, but if you hear of anything, please send us a tip. Meanwhile we've added Google to our continuously updated layoff tracker.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 11, 2008

Afternoon Mystery: Google Banishes Self From SERPs

This post has been updated.

Google appears to have wiped two of its important products from its own search results pages. As of this writing, searches for "Google AdWords" and "Google Analytics" do not appear in the first page of organic search results. A search for AdWords turns up a sponsored listing, but no natural one. The top two results for both terms are the products' Wikipedia pages, followed by their official blogspot blogs.

Check it out:

(hat tip Bryan Eisenberg)

UPDATE: Google informed us that the SERPs for Google Analytics and Google AdWords were resolved within an hour of this blog post. A quick check confirmed this to be true.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 4, 2008

DOJ Was Rarin' to Sue as Google Scuttled Yahoo Deal

Just how close did the Justice Department come to filing anti-trust charges against Google and Yahoo over their search advertising deal?

About three hours close, according to an Am Law Daily interview with Sanford Litvack, the bulldog litigator hired by the DOJ to investigate the outsourcing agreement.

"We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day," Litvack told Am Law. "We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement."

After the deal was scuttled, an apparently disappointed Litvack went back to his firm, Hogan & Hartson. "We felt pretty good about it, we felt pretty confident. Yeah, I would have liked to have done it."

More from the Am Law story:

The never-filed government complaint would have charged that the agreement violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, Litvack tells the Am Law Daily in one of his first interviews since the companies canned the venture. Section 1 bans agreements that restrain trade unreasonably. Section 2 makes it unlawful for a company to monopolize or attempt to monopolize trade.

"It would have ended up also alleging that Google had a monopoly and that [the advertising pact] would have furthered their monopoly," Litvack says.

The complaint would have sought a preliminary injunction to stop the agreement from going forward. "The fact that we filed a lawsuit would not by itself have stopped them," he says. "We would have had to get an injunction from the court, and we would have sought that."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 20, 2008

Was Google Lively DOA?

Over the summer Google released Lively by Google, its version of a virtual or persistent world. Though it got early support by participants and brands such as National Geographic, there was insufficient momentum to sustain the Google Labs venture. This morning the Official Google Blog posted Google Lively will shut down at the end of the year. "Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off," it said on the blog. Additionally the Lively.com Web site urges users to create memories of their virtual experiences by recording videos and screenshots.

Posted by Enid Burns at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 18, 2008

Eric Schmidt Really Really Wants that Obama Administration Job

How much does Google CEO Eric Schmidt want to be Barack Obama's Chief Tech Officer? This much. (See "Restoring public trust in government," and the link to the related booklet.)

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2008

Google Tracks the Flu Patterns

It's approaching flu season, and Google.org released Flu Trends to identify the relationship between where people have the flu and where people search for the flu online. Researchers at Google noticed that there are more flu-related searches during flu season, and the search trend actually matches that of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data. The flu-related search terms are found to be good indicators for the flu, and Google maps where infection zones are minimal, moderate, high, and epidemic. The data is automatic, where traditional flu tracking systems can take one- to two-weeks to collect and release data, according to a Google statement. The Flu Trends tool can aid healthcare newsletters to develop more targeted messages, and advertisers to determine where to geo-target search campaigns, to name a few possible uses for the Google tool.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Contextual Local Ads - Not Quite There Yet

Quick - where's Beacon?

If you're coming up with multiple answers, you're not alone. So are local Google AdSense advertisers, and as a result, contextual ads are all out of context. Ads for Beacon-related things spanning the country (literally) from Boston to San Francisco accompanied an e-mail from a friend who hails from Beacon, NY.

This problem, of course, is hardly limited to Google. It is indicative of local advertisers who are newer to AdSense -- and in all likelihood, taking a more scattershot, DIY approach to buying and managing keywords than more experienced advertisers are.

So what's the secret to teaching newbie search advertisers about concepts such as negative match? Should such feature be baked more prominently into account management software?

Local advertising is burgeoning, but for it to really take off and soar, a lot of really complex issues will have to come down to earth and be super-simplified.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 4, 2008

Yahoo/Google Deal Revision Would Give Marketers More Control

To appease Justice Department concerns about their search ads tie-up, Yahoo and Google have offered to cap what Yahoo can make through the deal at 25 percent of its total search revenue, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Perhaps a bigger deal for search marketers: The revised deal would let advertisers opt out of having their ads distributed on Yahoo results pages.

That would partly address concerns of some marketers that they'll wind up bidding against themselves, but it may also reduce the available Yahoo inventory for those who choose to opt out.

As Kevin Lee put it back in September, "In order for [Yahoo] to even to consider serving an ad out of Google, that ad has to be 15 percent more expensive," to allow for Google's cut.

Yahoo's extra revenue from each ad served by Google comes at the expense of brands that bid on both platforms, and so letting those brands abstain from ad syndication between the parties. Yet having the option not to pay the higher price to appear on Yahoo SERPs doesn't mean they'll still get in at the lower price.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 28, 2008

Google, WPP Partner to Research Online Media's Impact

Curious about how online media influences consumer behavior? Google and WPP are. They're willing to contribute a collective $4.6 million over the next three years in grant money to endow the Google and WPP Marketing Research Awards Program, a joint research program to look into how online media influences consumer behavior, attitudes, and decision making.

The program will be overseen by professor John Quelch, senior associate dean of Harvard Business School and a non-executive director of WPP; Dr. Hal Varian, Google's chief economist; and professor Glen Urban, former dean of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The committee will work with WPP and Google to decide which grant proposals will be funded and ensure the integrity, delivery, and impact of the research. The program is immediately reviewing grant applications, and information is available here.

This is another case in which Google is forging stronger relationships with agencies. Last month the search giant outlined its relationship with Publicis, which was initially announced in January.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Sign Human Rights Ethics Code

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have signed an industry code of ethics designed to safeguard human rights and freedom of speech online. The Global Network Initiative guidelines, drawn up by Internet firms, academics and human rights groups, will aim to limit the data that is shared with authorities and governments around the world.

Under the guidelines, participating companies will attempt to reduce the scope of government requests that conflict with free speech and other human rights principles.

In a statement, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said the new guidelines "provide a valuable roadmap for companies like Yahoo operating in markets where freedom of expression and privacy are unfairly restricted."

Yahoo found itself in hot water last year when it handed over information to Chinese authorities which eventually lead to the imprisonment of two dissident journalists. Google has also encountered difficulties in China, and has agreed to censor local searches for terms such as "democracy" and "Tiananmen Square" in response to requests from Chinese authorities.

Ironically, these firms are constantly under fire from privacy advocates surrounding their use of consumer data in Europe and the U.S. Just last month, Google followed the lead of Yahoo and Microsoft and cut the amount of time it stores users' IP addresses from 18 months to nine in response to scrutiny from European regulatory bodies and privacy campaigners.

Outside of the EU and the U.S. however, it seems that internet firms are concerned about quite the opposite - the need to safeguard personal information from prying government eyes.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 23, 2008

Google Analytics Upgrade: A Game Changer?

Checked in this morning with Bryan Eisenberg, author of "Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer," about the latest enhancements to Google Analytics.

Eisenberg's calling the new features "game changing" for analytics. He especially likes how easy it's to create custom reports. For instance, someone can find out how many visitors on Web site A were referred from Web site B -- and read at least eight articles on Web site A.

Another interesting move: Google is making it easier for third parties to create applications for Google Analytics, potentially creating another cottage industry.

Do you think GA's new features are game changers?

And who is most threatened by these upgrades? Yahoo, which launched Yahoo Web Analytics, a free tool two weeks ago? Or the big guns like Omniture, WebTrends, and Coremetrics?

Post a comment, below, or e-mail me your thoughts: annamaria at clickz.com

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

October 17, 2008

Google Takes Out Personal Ad for Yahoo Deal Advocates

"Desperately seeking marketers to support the Yahoo search ad tie-up."

Well, not exactly. But TechCrunch reports the company's attorneys have directly contacted at least one large AdWords advertiser. The lawyer told this person, the proprietor of ReverseMortgageGuides.com, that the company was "looking for large advertisers who use both Google and Yahoo (we do) who would be willing to provide public testimonials in support of outsourcing Yahoo’s search ads to Google."

Here's the full text of Google's voice mail:

“Hi Darren my name is Donald Burke. I’m calling on behalf of Google to talk with Adwords advertisers about the new proposed Google/Yahoo Advertising Agreement. If you have a couple of minutes to talk with me, my number is…Thanks very much. Take care.”

And Darren's response: "I told him I’m a free-market competition kind of guy so he tried to address my concerns for about 15 minutes and then called it quits."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 16, 2008

Google Strikes Back-End Deals to Support TV Ambitions

Google has struck up two partnerships to support its steadily expanding TV Ads service.

The first is meant to help with inventory supply: Harris Corporation will allow cable nets that use its service to forward available inventory to Google TV Ads for sale. The second is on the buy side: CoreMedia Systems, provider of reporting tools for direct response advertisers, will integrate data from Google's platform. Using that system, marketers can match the airing of a Google TV ad to response and sales data from client call centers and e-commerce systems.

Well and dandy. But what Google really needs to power up its television ambitions is much more basic.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 14, 2008

How Low Will They Go? Google/Yahoo Discuss Deal Limits with DOJ

With all the negative attention on their search ads deal, it would be a surprise to learn that Google and Yahoo are not in active talks with the Justice Department. They are of course, and the Wall Street Journal has delivered some additional details on those negotiations, courtesy of "lawyers close to the effort."

According to the Journal's sources, the DOJ is seeking a handful of general concessions such as a cap on the ads Yahoo can outsource to Google and a reporting system to monitor those caps. No details are provided on what the ceiling would be as a percentage of Yahoo's total ad volume, and frankly, we may never know if the negotiations are fruitful. The important question for Yahoo is whether it can still deliver the upside it promised investors back in June, when it called the deal an "$800 million annual revenue opportunity."

Prosecutors are also looking for assurances from Yahoo that it will keep innovating on search ad monetization. That's a little tough to measure, but should still be a slam-dunk for Yahoo, which really does still want to be a contender in this area. And it may advance that goal through the deal, by observing the ads Google matches to its queries.

A final point of interest: WSJ's sources say DOJ investigators continue to put together an anti-trust lawsuit to prevent the arrangement -- an expected measure that may be partly a negotiating tactic.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

Google, ValueClick Score Big on Wall Street

Tech vendors in the digital advertising and marketing business got a nice bump in stock prices today -- a sign that the sector holds promise among investors.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 11.8 percent, Google ended the trading day at $381, up 14.7 percent. Still, Google is nowhere near its 52-week high of $747.

Meanwhile, Yahoo's stock price climbed 9.8 percent to $13.49.

ValueClick, which has not been a Wall Street darling lately, also did better than the Nasdaq, closing the day at $8.41, an increase of 19.3 percent.

The optimism didn't carry over to all companies. Lyris, which provides tools for e-mail marketing campaigns, analytics, and PPC bid management, saw its share price drop to 39 cents, a decline of 11.4 percent.

Will Wall Street's enthusiasm for the digital marketing and advertising sector bode well for these businesses? Take a chapter from history -- and don't count your tulip bulbs until they flower.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 8, 2008

Google Ogles Digital Game Advertising

Google's jumping into yet another corner of the digital advertising arena.

Google announced yesterday the launch of AdSense for Games, which integrates video and text advertisements into Web-based games. Advertisers will be charged based on cost-per-impression or cost-per-click, and ad revenue revenue will be split between Google and game developers or publishers.

Google disclosed it's working with a handful of advertisers on a trial basis: Esurance, Sprint, and Sony Pictures.

It's also working with these game developers and publishers: Konami, Playfish, Zynga, Demand Media, games network Mochi Media, and others.

To date, digital game advertising represents only a tiny slice of the digital advertising pie. Yet, according to ClickZ Expert columnists Matt Story and Kevin Carney, this emerging sector holds lots of promise.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 30, 2008

Canada DOJ Retains Litigator to Eye Google/Yahoo on Eve of Marriage

The clock is ticking on the great Google-Yahoo search union of 2008, yet new hurdles keep rising up. The latest challenge: Canada's Department of Justice has retained a big name litigator, David Kent, to look into the deal's underpinnings.

Market Watch confirmed with Kent, an anti-trust attorney with Toronto's McMillan LLP, that he was retained by the DOJ but would say nothing else. As with the appointment of Sanford Litvack by the U.S. DOJ, his involvement doesn't imply the DOJ will sue over the deal, but it does complicate matters.

Below, an incomplete tally of objections and investigations to the deal on the eve of its scheduled implementation:

• Senators Question Deal's Benefit to Advertisers
• ANA Formally Objects
• Global Newspaper Group Pans Deal
• European Commission Inspecting Tie-Up
• World Federation of Advertisers Bashes Pact
• U.S. DOJ Hires Litigator to Look Into Deal

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2008

Everything You Wanted to Know About...

...the Yahoo-Google partnership -- according to Yahoo -- can be found at this new microsite.

Not to be outdone, Google has its own page, "Facts about the Yahoo-Google advertising agreement," that includes a slide show.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 25, 2008

Google Muscles Into HopStop's Corner

In New York City Mapquest directions mean nothing, and Google Maps are great for locating what block an address is on, but not so good for directions. I practically live and die by HopStop, and love the mobile version when I'm on the go. It gives directions for New Yorkers, and those in Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. Google this week released a map to plan trips using public transit in and around New York City. It looks like there are some rough edges to be worked out, but Google Maps might just give HopStop some stiff competition for commuting around town, and in the tri-state area since both layer metro New York commuter trains into the mix. I gave Google a few sample routes a try, and will continue to do so, but there are still a few loose ends I want filled in. It was a little unclear how to get from point A to point B on one route. What I did like was the easy way to toggle between alternate routes with Google. Sometimes HopStop likes to hide the alternate route button, or still offers up the same train line with a different number (or letter) train.

Posted by Enid Burns at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 23, 2008

T-Mobile to Unveil Its Google Phone

Word is T-Mobile today will unveil its new mobile phone, called G1, that uses Google's operating system called Android.

PC World mag speculates the phone will include free Gmail from Google. Update: Indeed, TmoNews says it's confirmed the phone comes with Gmail, YouTube, Calendar and Google Talk. Memory is expandable up to 8 gigs.

Analysts predict the Google phone will unlikely match last year's debut of Apple's iPhone.

"I doubt that anything can match the hoopla that has been created by Apple,'' IDC analyst Shiv Bakhshi told Bloomberg News.

ClickZ's Enid Burns will be reporting on this development today at IAB's Mixx conference today. Look for more coverage -- and what this means for advertisers.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

September 22, 2008

Yet Another Association Bashes Google/Yahoo Pact

Another international group has come out against the Google/Yahoo search agreement, calling it a raw deal for global as well as U.S. advertisers.

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is asking the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition to block the deal on the grounds that it will have a "detrimental effect on competition, result in price increases and reduce the options available to advertisers worldwide."

The WFA is an international blanket organization made up of 55 national groups. Its membership includes the Association of National Advertisers in the U.S., which has already declared itself opposed to the search advertising pact.

It's also the second international organization to speak up, the first being the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). The difference here is the WFA's position essentially echoes that of its U.S. tentacle, whereas WAN's declaration ran counter to that of its U.S. member, which has taken no official stance.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2008

Google on Antitrust: Trust Us

In case you were wondering what Google's stance is on whether or not its deal with Yahoo is bad for competition, it's official! It's all good.

Following his comments on ad pricing concerns related to the Yahoo/Google search ad pair up, Google President, Advertising and Commerce, North America Tim Armstrong responded to questions regarding competition today.

Armstrong also managed to jab arch nemesis, Microsoft, noting, "This agreement - unlike Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo - means that Yahoo will remain an independent company in the business of search and advertising. Yahoo has stated that it will reinvest the additional revenue from this agreement into improving its user services and competing vigorously against Google, Microsoft and other companies. "

Is anybody else having trouble understanding why Google would want to prop up its competition?

Armstrong answers that, alluding to co-opetition relationships between companies like Toyota and GM.

OK, wait a minute. Armstrong is now equating the flourishing search advertising industry with the sputtering auto industry? I suppose he'd also cite Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium as an example. Oh yeah -- that's another seriously ailing industry. When I see McDonald's giving BK its special sauce recipe, his argument might hold a little more weight.

On concerns that the combined search businesses would wipe out the competition, Armstrong pounded the virtual desk: "No. This agreement is not a merger. This is about expanding the pie, not dividing it differently. Yahoo! will continue to run its own search engine and advertising system."

As for data sharing, he stressed "neither company has access to personally identifiable user information from the other company." Take that privacy crusaders!

Sidenote: Indefatigable privacy activist Jeff Chester fired off an e-mail to the press today stating, "Armstrong and Google, we believe, aren’t being candid here. When an online ad company dismantles (or turns over) a core part of its search function to its leading competitor, it becomes fatally wounded. As Google knows all well, search and display (and online content) are all intertwined. Yahoo’s future, in my opinion, as a full service online ad company is endangered, as more businesses realize that its search ad business relies increasingly on Google." Ouch.

But wait! According to Armstrong, Yahoo "will use extra revenue from this deal to improve its ad platform." He goes on to state, "Yahoo also has a strong economic incentive to keep serving as many of their own ads as possible, since they get to keep all of the revenue from those ads, while Yahoo will only receive a part of the revenue from ads served by Google."

Note to Yahoo's Panama: Remember to sell your own stuff!

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 10, 2008

Click or No Click, Google Says Paid Search Pays

Position matters in paid search, according to Google.

The search engine released findings of custom research performed by Millward Brown on its behalf. And Sprint was the guinea pig in this project.

The goal was to determine the value of an impression beyond the click, measure the impact of paid search ads, and find out how much search placement matters.

Brand recall was greater in the top-sponsored position, and was reduced in lower positions, the study found. You don't even need a click to increase branding. "When you get a search impression, it's free," a tech commerce marketing manager at Google told me. "It's an expanded way to use search in strategy."

The research reinforced a conversation I had with another Google executive. In a recent interview, Google Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik, said on any given day Google is conducting around 150 to 200 experiments worldwide. To hear about the study and how the team tested search engine results pages (SERP) with sponsored links from Sprint high on the page, or not there at all, is just another example of how the Google continues to tune its engine.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 9, 2008

Government Fans Flames Under Google's Hot Seat

As I sit munching on a decadent brownie that came straight from Google's renowned cafeteria (don't be evil? ha!), I'm mulling the company's status in the eyes of U.S. and European lawmakers and regulators.

Two regulation-related instances have occurred recently. Officially, Google has responded to concerns voiced by EU regulators by slashing in half the amount of time it stores user search data to nine months.

Certainly potentially more significant, but not confirmed by ClickZ News, is the Wall Street Journal's report that the Department of Justice has hired an outside litigator to look into Google goings-on. In particular, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the stalled Google/Yahoo search ad deal.

However, it's unknown whether the new DOJ hire, Sanford Litvack -- "one of the nation's best-known litigators" according to the WSJ -- will focus only on the that deal, or inspect other aspects of Google's business (or Yahoo's business for that matter).

Let's not forget previous government scrutiny of the partnership by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Surely, the heightened inspections of Google are reminding observers more and more of Microsoft's longtime antitrust troubles. Indeed, the WSJ reports, "It is relatively rare for the Justice Department to hire a special counsel from outside the department. David Boies was brought in as a special counsel to build the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 3, 2008

Quote of the Day: Google as Agency Virus

“...they’re almost like a virus, going to work their way into specific agencies and replace the DNA of those agencies with a more analytic orientation while trying to maintain some of the client relationships.”

-Peter S. Fader, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, quoted in the New York Times.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 29, 2008

Yahoo Set to Run First Google Search Ads in October

Eric Schmidt tells the Seattle Times that Google and Yahoo still plan to move ahead with their search advertising deal in October, despite recent questions from the Senate about whether the arrangement will raise prices for advertisers.

"We are going to move forward," Schmidt said Thursday. "We are in the process of talking to the government. They've not indicated one way or the other how they're dealing with us."

When the companies paired up in June, they said they'd delay implementation for up to three and a half months to allow a U.S. Justice Department review, though such a postponement isn't required by law. In a July 15 hearing, a Senate Judiciary Committee expressed concerns the pact would remove an important check on Google's dominance of the search advertising market.

Schmidt's conclusion: "We always worry a little bit, but we think our arguments are pretty strong."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 19, 2008

Google Upgrades Website Optimizer

Google rolled out new features today for Website Optimizer, a tool that helps digital marketers and others test and improve the performance of Web pages.

Tom Leung, business product manager for Google Website Optimizer, described the changes today at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA.

Using Website Optimizer, businesses or individuals can set up different versions of a Web page and test the performance of each.

Using one of the new features, someone will be able to click a "disable" button to kill any low-performing variations of a Web page. And the remaining traffic would be sent to the high-performing ones. Previously, the process for stopping and starting a new test was a lot more complicate.

Another change: the tool will support offline validation of A/B tests. "If your test pages aren't accessible to Website Optimizer, you can instead directly upload a copy of your tagged source code and we'll make sure that everything is tagged correctly," , wrote Jon Stona from the Google Website Optimizer Team on a Google blog.

If you want to learn more about Web site optimization, check out the Post-Click Optimization panel at SES San Jose on Thursday. Tom will be among the four digital marketing experts on the panel.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bryan Eisenberg, a Search Marketing Rock Star

Anyone attending the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA, couldn't help but notice the long line of people waiting to get Bryan Eisenberg to sign the new book he co-authored called, "Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer."

He was accompanied by Brett Crosby, group manager of Google Analytics and the co-founder of Urchin Software. Brett wrote the book's forward.

Bryan, co-founder of interactive marketing optimization firm Future Now, is also a ClickZ Expert columnist who writes about ROI marketing.

When I caught up with Bryan today, he figures he and Brett signed more than 500 copies in over an hour.

At that rate, he averaged 8.3 signatures per minute!

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 14, 2008

FeedBurner Ad Network Kaput?

What's up with the FeedBurner ad network? Some signs point to kaput. Word has it Google, which bought FeedBurner last year, will officially make the switch to AdSense network ads. As noted by the RSS feed firm in May, "we'll be rolling out AdSense for feeds to a small group of publishers, in anticipation of a full launch to all FeedBurner and AdSense publishers 'coming soon'."

And who knew "chocolaty goodness" was a side effect of Google integration? The May post continued, "And, this is just the beginning of the chocolaty goodness that will come from ongoing integration effort with Google - there are many more 'things' and 'stuff' yet to come…."

When I requested confirmation from Google, a spokesperson pointed me to the post, noting, "We have nothing to announce at this time."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 5, 2008

Click Fraud As A Career?

Stumbled upon this salary benchmark information on Indeed.com.

No mention of benefits, but $93K to click? Not bloody likely.

Sounds like click fraud perpetrators are scamming the clickers as much as they are search engines and their advertisers.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 20, 2008

As Seen On...

... a t-shirt for sale at a boardwalk shop in Wildwood, NJ.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

Viacom-YouTube Reach Privacy Deal over User Info

Google's YouTube won't be required, after all, to hand over user IDs to Viacom.

The measure is part of an agreement reached yesterday in U.S. District Court in New York City in connection with a Viacom copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube. In that lawsuit, Viacom claims Google failed to stop the distribution of Viacom content on YouTube.

Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered Google to hand over to Viacom the following information: YouTube user IDs, visitor IDs, and the IP address, which is used to connect computers over the Internet. Under the new agreement, Google will be able to substitute the IDs and IP addresses for "unique values." As a result, the privacy of users should be better protected, while Viacom should still be able to establish what videos were watched.

"We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original demand for all users' viewing histories," the "YouTube Team" wrote on YouTube's blog.

Most visitors posting entries on the YouTube blog applauded the development. "thanks, Youtube. It's good to know that at least one organization is committed to our privacy," wrote arcadianraider.

Others asked when Google would reduce the amount of information it obtains from users. "Great! So when are you going to let us OPT OUT of information collection?" asked thestranger.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 11, 2008

Google Mobile Image Ads: MMA Compliant

When Google launched its mobile image ads in April there was some disagreement over their compliance with the Mobile Marketing Association guidelines, which were issued around the same time. It's nearly three months later, and Google has posted on its mobile blog that it's now compliant with the six sizes outlined within the MMA guidelines for banner ads.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 7, 2008

Micro-hoo Head Games: Next 24 Days are All-Important

The two most important dates in Yahoo's immediate future are July 22 and August 1.

On the first date Yahoo will announce its second quarter earnings, which should help clarify its (and the Web's) vulnerability to U.S. economic woes -- as well as to continued oversupply caused by a glut of social network ad inventory. Any pain would likely emanate from the financial, automotive & travel sectors, which have steadily reduced spending over the past year.

Poor results will put the company on weak footing with investors, who will meet on the second date above to decide on -- among other things -- Carl Icahn's proposal to oust its management and board of directors. Icahn intends to replace the company's CEO and board with a leadership team, including himself, that would be more open to a sale of part or all of Yahoo to Microsoft. Indeed, should Icahn succeed, whatever crew takes over would be explicitly appointed to orchestrate a deal with Microsoft.

No shocker: Microsoft supports that outcome. Microsoft stated this morning that it has "concluded it cannot" reach an agreement with the current leadership (very careful language that does not preclude new talks with Yang at some later date), but would reconsider a complete acquisition of Yahoo if Yang & company are yanked. Yahoo quickly retorted: "If Microsoft and Mr. Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately."

Meanwhile, Yahoo may be working furiously to consummate an agreement with Time Warner to purchase or otherwise combine its operations with those of AOL. The Times Online describes re-ignited talks between the Web company, Goldman Sachs and Time Warner's leadership in an effort to "re-heat" negotiations ahead of that all-important shareholder meeting.

A merger announcement within 24 days could overshadow weak earnings, and convince shareholders to give Yahoo's current leadership some more time to improve performance.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 3, 2008

Google Ordered to Hand Over YouTube User Info, But Not Ad Records

A federal judge yesterday ordered Google to hand over to Viacom information about YouTube users' viewing habits.

U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton's order set off a firestorm among privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The group contends the disclosure of the information would violate a federal privacy law and could potentially expose private information about YouTube users.

"The Court's erroneous ruling is a set-back to privacy rights, and will allow Viacom to see what you are watching on YouTube," Kurt Opsahl, EFF senior staff attorney, wrote on the EFF blog.

Viacom filed suit against Google's YouTube in March 2007, claiming the online video sharing Web site had failed to sufficiently stop users from posting and watching copyrighted material. The judge's order came Wednesday in response to that lawsuit, according to published reports.

Google was ordered to release: a user's log-in ID, the video ID, and the IP address that locates computers on the Internet, though doesn't necessarily identify them by owner.

While Viacom also asked for records involving advertising transactions for Google's AdWords and AdSense programs, the judge rejected that request. Viacom reportedly had sought an electronic index that shows how data in a database are organized by listing the database’s fields and tables, though not its underlying data.

Viacom had contended this information would have shown that Google could or should have known that its advertising revenues were associated with the pirated videos.

Google also will not be required to disclose its computer source code for the YouTube.com search function and the Google.com search engine.

Google doesn't disclose how much revenue it generates from advertising or branded video on YouTube. But Forbes estimates it at $200 million this year and $350 million in 2009.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 24, 2008

How Will Google Ad Planner Promote Network Inventory?

In his presentation at the ARF Measurement conference yesterday, Wayne Lin, business product manager at Google, stuck mainly to what the company had already announced about Ad Planner, its new audience research and media planning product.

Things got a little more interesting during the Q&A, when someone in the audience asked him how Google would promote sites in its own network. It was the first time Google has addressed its conflict of interest with the free tool. Lin said he believed the right approach is to follow the formula it used for organic versus paid listings in search.

"If we do benefit sites in our network, we should clearly label that," he said.

It's interesting to note he said the company "should," not that it "would," disclose properties its peddling. Keep an eye on this aspect of Ad Planner.

Designed for media planners, Ad Planner alllows its users to save their media plans or export them as a DoubleClick MediaVisor file. It uses the same data sources as the company's new Google Trends for Websites measurement play -- which is to say it pulls from search data, Google Analytics data, panel data and third party market research. (In retrospect, it was obvious what Google had in mind when it recently began asking Analytics users to specify whether their site data could be shared anonymously with its other apps.)

Lin said Google is now weighing whether to pursue Media Ratings Council accreditation, which would validate its measurement approach. One audience member called it "regrettable" that some firms had sought to create reliable audience estimates by fusing together different databases willy-nilly.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

June 23, 2008

Rumor: Google Android Development Stagnates

Last fall reports of a G-Phone were quelled with the announcement of Android, an open source operating system that would run across all carrier networks. Google established the Open Handset Alliance with the existence of Android, and set to work on the operating system, developers creating handsets, and applications with a goal of availability in the second half of this year.

Demos of Android, on compatible handsets, have been shown at conferences and events here and there, but that’s been few and far between. The Wall Street Journal by reports today the release will be Q4 or later. Carriers and developers are having problems developing for the system. And carriers, in particular, are have issue making it theirs, according to the Journal.

This morning I met with Marcus Colombano VP of marketing from LightPole, a geo-contextual content publishing and advertising platform for mobile that works with companies such as Yahoo Local, Mappy Hour, and Yelp. He who wasn’t surprised by the news. He said his first take last year was “that there was “that there wasn’t more meat” to the Android announcement. While LightPole intends to develop for Android, the next development platform for his company will be the iPhone. “As a small organization, it makes more sense to develop for platforms that exist,” he said.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 16, 2008

Yahoo-Google Confounds Digerati, Marketers Universally Miserable

One hundred hours later, opinion makers still can't agree on whether Yahoo's search ads deal with Google was a brilliant move long overdue or the beginning of the end.

For those in the latter camp, perhaps the most stinging indictment came from Joe Nocera, who wrote in the Times that Yahoo has "chosen to become a pawn of the most dominant company on the Internet." That's a strong remark, given the deal allows Yang & Co. to retain a control lever they can use to ratchet up monetization when flagging earnings seem to call for it.

The more they use that lever, the less pleased marketers will be. Many fear price hikes as Google boosts its control of search ad spending to 90 percent or more. Increases are probably not around the corner however, except insofar as advertisers give up on Panama and spend more on Google, thus bidding keywords higher. Under that scenario, Google will encounter less pressure to create competitive value for advertisers. That could manifest in higher campaign costs down the road.

As distasteful as Google's embrace is to Yahoo, it's nothing compared to what Microsoft's feeling -- especially given it lit the fuse on the bomb that just blew up in its face.

Indeed, if the six-month drama surrounding Yahoo's fate were a drawn-out Looney Tunes episode, the screen would now display a blackened Wile E. Coyote (Microsoft, a.k.a. Eatibus Anythingus) moments after an elaborately concealed explosive device detonates on top of him. The singed coyote can only look on in despair as Road Runner (Google, a.k.a. Hot-rodicus Supersonicus) casually polishes off the platter of bird seed laid as bait. The comparison breaks down a bit at this point, since Yahoo clearly has to be both the pile of Acme brand TNT and the bird seed.

Whatever. The big question now is, what's Wiley planning next? It was only a year ago that its loss of DoubleClick in a fierce bidding war with Google drove Microsoft to hotly pursue a purchase of much larger aQuantive. There is no acquisition target bigger than Yahoo, but many smaller snacks remain on the table -- for instance AOL, Facebook, ValueClick, AdBrite, Tribal Fusion, and Specific Media.

Finally, many believe an eventual acquisition of Yahoo is still very much in the company's plans, and that Yahoo's Google deal has merely bought it time. It's entirely possible regulators will block the relationship on anti-competitive grounds, in which case pressure will mount for Yahoo to return to the negotiating table.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 15, 2008

iPhone Applications, Google, and PPC

Over the weekend, a Google search for "iPhone applications" turned up an assortment of sponsored links.

Google Mobile appeared as the top sponsored link in the right-hand column. (See right.) Visitors who clicked on that link were directed to applications, including maps and search, designed for the iPhone or BlackBerry.

And, AT&T was touting its "Media Mall," a site to download games , ringtones, and other applications for cell phones. AT&T is the exclusive provider of the Apple iPhone.

And Apple appeared in the sponsored links that appear across the top of the search engine results page, along with Zinio, which was promoting magazines for the iPhone.

For the words, "AT&T and iPhone," Google Mobile also turned up as the top sponsored link, followed by AT&T Internet, which was promoting DSL service for $19.95 a month.

The estimated average CPC for the keywords "phone application" was $2.24, while "cell phone application" was $2.74, according to Google AdWords. It did not show an estimate for "iPhone application."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 10, 2008

Google Accepts Atlas Tags

When Google announced its acceptance of third party ad tags (finally) last month, there was a gaping hole where one of the largest ad management platforms should have been. Atlas, owned by Microsoft's aQuantive, was missing from the lineup of firms whose tags were listed, including DoubleClick (duh), Valueclick's Mediaplex, Eyeblaster, Dynamic Logic and others.

Of course, jumping to conclusions on this one was the reaction many, including the folks here at ClickZ had. Certainly, despite the fact that Atlas has a huge chunk of the ad management market, it looked as though Google may have been snubbing Microsoft's platform. Hey, they're not exactly friendly.

But, today Google announced it will accept Atlas tags, in addition to tags from Tumri, an ad targeting system. Still, there are lots of technologies advertisers and agencies use everyday missing from the list.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 30, 2008

'Sex and the City' and Search

The opening today of "Sex and the City," the movie, got search engine marketers into action, using paid search on Google and Yahoo to promote everything from bling (GiltyCouture and Ziamond), to ringtones, to an online video site (MyHubTV).

What, no Manolo Blahniks?

Yahoo paid search results, below.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

Quote of the Day: Tim O'Reilly

"So let's assume that Google has won at search, or close enough to make no difference. Is Microsoft better off trying to reimplement cat and ls [old UNIX utilities], or trying to figure out what's still missing from the Internet Operating System? While they are locked in penis envy, all the really cute girls are going out with startups."

-Tim O'Reilly, arguing Microsoft's search obsession has distracted it from important work it could be doing in service of Web users.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 22, 2008

Disney Resorts Going 3-D on Google Earth

From the folks who brought the Hannah Montana concert tour to the movie screen in 3-D, next up: Disney Resorts in 3-D on Google Earth.

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has been working with Google to develop a virtual tour of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and other properties, USA Today reports. Visitors will be able to see rides like Splash Mountain, hotels, and other attractions in 3-D.

While the interactive map was to go live May 20, it's apparently not ready yet. "Mickey and friends are working away to make it great, but it's currently still in development," reads a note from the Magic Kingdom.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 20, 2008

Ads See Light of Day on Google Image Search

When a Google exec mentions in an interview the search giant is thinking about a new ad product, it's hard to say whether it will become available to advertisers tomorrow, next quarter, or be swept under the virtual rug. In early May Marissa Mayer said in a Bloomberg Radio interview that monetization of its Image Search was something Google was considering. It was hard to read from the interview, though many interpreted her response as a done deal, when we might see image ads with our image results. Depending on your search queries, that day may be today.

At Google's factory tour it was discussed that the ad format was being tested. A Google spokesperson provided further information for ClickZ. "As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation and to help users find new and better ways of getting the information they're looking for, we are currently conducting a small test to show ads on the results page for Google Image Search. The experiment is restricted to a limited number of U.S. advertisers."

A few random searches turned up no ads so far.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 9, 2008

Google's Mayer Talks Image Ads in Search

On Bloomberg Radio this week, Google Search exec Marissa Mayer was asked how Google justifies blowing off the $200 million per year the company claims it could make from text ads on its image search results. Her response, "Ads should match the results." She said if Google were to run ads in Image Search, they would likely be image ads. She also said attention would be paid to the relevance, user experience, and types of interaction with image search.

Based on those remarks, Bloomberg posted a follow-up story, "Google May Run Display Advertisements With Image-Search Results," that makes such advertising appear imminent. Then came the blogged headlines: "Google Will Put Display Ads Into Image Searches on Tom's Guide and the speculative "Will Image Ads Bring Google More Money?. Are these publications, and plenty others, jumping to conclusions? Yes.

Listen to the radio interview (I recommend using Explorer, it crashes Firefox) for yourself. Mayer is answering questions rather than offering information about upcoming advertising products.

That said, selling ads on image search results pages would contribute significant revenues to Google. There's interest from advertisers, too. "For advertisers to have a very visual product… could certainly be a great opportunity," said Kevin Lange, director of operations at SMG Search, a division of Starcom MediaVest.

The caveat for image search versus text search: "What is the mindset that goes to image search and searches for 'car,' as opposed to Google.com and searches for 'car.'"

Lange also said Image search is a relatively small user base. ComScore data reports 707 million searches in image search, compared to 8.3 billion searches on all Google sites combined in March. Google received 149.6 billion unique searchers in March, and Google Image Search received 43.7 million uniques.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 8, 2008

Myanmar: Relief Fundraising Kicks In

A Google search for "Myanmar," devastated by a cyclone, shows that nonprofits are turning to paid search to help raise funds to assist victims. Here's a partial list of the results:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008

Google Joins Venture for High-Speed Mobile Net Access

Google has signed onto a venture, led by Sprint, to develop and deliver high-speed wireless Internet access for mobile devices, according to a published report.

Comcast, Time Warner, Intel, Clearwire, and others are set to announce they will invest $3.2 billion for the technology called WiMax, the WSJ.com reports.

The New York Times, quoting an unidentified source, said Google could provide the search engine for the wireless platform, enabling it to sell advertising there. Google is said to be contributing $500 million to the initiative.

Plans call for the wireless data-and-voice network to have the download speeds of cable broadband and the reach of a cellphone network.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 6, 2008

Calculate the Value of a Widget -- in a Widget

Thank DoubleClick for this nifty tool: a widget that calculates the value of a widget.

Google's Ari Paparo, previously DoubleClick's VP, advertiser products, brought it to marketers' attention yesterday at IAB's digital video leadership forum. He participated on the panel, "Format Wars No More."

When asked if brands will start tracking mentions on Twitter, Ning, and other social applications, Paparo pointed out that tracking is fairly easy to do.

But assigning value to that chatter is tough. Paparo likened it to attending a party, picking up business cards, and then trying to attach a dollar value to that experience.

Sounds like a good candidate for another widget calculator.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 3, 2008

Microsoft Withdraws Bid for Yahoo

Microsoft on Saturday withdrew its bid to acquire Yahoo, opting against raising its offer $5 billion more or pursuing a hostile takeover.

Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer, in a letter to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, said he was concerned that Yahoo would take actions that would make the company undesirable to Microsoft. Of particular concern: Yahoo's decision to test Google's search ads on its own results pages, and the possibility that Yahoo would work more closely with Google on paid search going forward.

Such an arrangement, Ballmer wrote, "would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!’s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system."

He continued: "This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo," Ballmer said.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock fired back a statement, reiterating that Microsoft's bid undervalued Yahoo. "We remain focused on maximizing shareholder value and pursuing strategic opportunities that position Yahoo! for success and leadership in its markets," Bostock said in a news release.

On Feb. 1, Microsoft offered to pay $44.6 billion or $31 a share for Yahoo. Since then, Microsoft said it agreed to raise its bid by $2 per share, but Yahoo wanted another $4.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 2, 2008

Art for iGoogle's Sake

Google lined up nearly 70 artists, fashion designers, and other creative types to contribute art work for iGoogle pages. The move appears to be just another sign that Google is working to make its site a destination.

Marissa Mayer, Google VP, search products, unveiled iGoogle Artist Themes at a reception Thursday night in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, a few blocks away from Google's NY headquarters. Notable contributors include artist Dale Chihuly, U.K. rock band Coldplay, designer Philippe Starck, and choreographer Mark Morris.

For the occasion, Google brought in some heavy hitters in the art and design world: artist Jeff Koons, architect Michael Graves, designer Marc Ecko, photographer Anne Geddes, and Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor of "The New Yorker."

Were the artists paid for their contributions? If they were, it wasn't in Google stock.

"I thought you gave us Google stock," joked Graves after the other artists explained what working with Google meant to them.

"It's almost as expensive as Jeff's art," shot back Ecko, referring to Koons. (Koons' "Hanging Heart," reportedly sold for $23.4 million last year.)

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 1, 2008

Google Flips Switch on TV Ads, Spot Runner Gets Granular

As expected, Google has begun offering TV ad production and placement services to all AdWords advertisers. The public launch indicates the company has partially resolved the inventory problems that plagued the program in its early months, though it's still only pushing ads to customers of its DISH and Astound cable partners. Google's demo, viewable here, shows how advertisers can choose programs and networks, fix day parts, secure production services, and schedule campaigns.

With the launch, advertisers will be in a better position to analyze and compare the relative merits of Google's system with competing offerings, most notably Spot Runner. Spot Runner, which hired Joanne Bradford and Marc Rosenthal in recent months, is going after national advertisers whose budgets were too small for TV in the broadcast boom years. A client example the company shared last month is that of a purveyor of home power generators. "When we see a storm rolling in, we turn on their campaigns," CEO Nick Grouf said.

While Google is giving marketers the option of uploading spots or contracting jobs, Spot Runner has taken the tack of proactively packaging video ads for specific business types. You can see its library here, including an interesting set of political advertising templates I hadn't noticed before visiting today.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 30, 2008

Google Artist Doodles

The MET in NY has a special exhibit right now Jeff Koons on the Roof, which possibly I can see a glimmer of from the roof of my building. Possibly that's why Google's doodle of the day is inspired by the work of the same artist.

Google has collaborated with almost 70 artists to create iGoogle art themes. Artists, designers, rock stars, pop stars, dancers, and athletes are involved: Jeff Koons, Dale Chihuly, Coldplay, Diane von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Michael Graves, Philippe Starck, Robert Mankoff, Mark Morris, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Geddes and Tory Burch, to name a few.

Here's info on the doodles. And the full gallery of artist themes.

My Search Engine Watch colleague Kevin Heisler has a somewhat racier post about iGoogle's work with artists.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2008

Google, Champion of Small Biz on Capitol Hill

Please don't stifle online advertising! That was Google's plea during last week's House Committee on Small Business hearing on "The Role of Small Businesses in Stimulating the Economy." The company's VP Online Sales and Operations David Fischer spoke to lawmakers, stressing the benefits of Google AdSense to small Web site publishers, bloggers and educators.

Sure, most of them make very little off their AdSense ads. Rather than providing a range of incomes the more successful small businesses garner from AdSense ads, Google chose to focus on the obvious outlier. According to Fischer, Ohio-based AsktheBuilder.com collects an average of $42,000 each month from the ads.

He went on to say some 2,000 businesses based in the first district of Ohio earned $1.6 million in total last year through AdSense. It just so happens Republican Congressman Steve Chabot is a ranking member of the committee and represents that district.

Fischer ended his speech by petitioning members to think twice about proposing laws that could affect small businesspeople online. "As the committee continues its important work as a champion of small business I would encourage you to constantly consider how any new laws and regulations will affect these online entrepreneurs," he said.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 17, 2008

Google Unshackles Website Optimizer

Google decided its Web site optimization tool will stand apart from its AdWords platform.

Previously, someone using Google Website Optimizer had to sign up for an AdWords account, although advertising on AdWords wasn't required.

The change, announced yesterday, appears to be intended to give the free tool its own identity and encourage Web designers and others to use it -- not just interactive advertisers or marketers.

Like before, the tool enables people to test two or more combinations of designs and content, including headlines and images, on a Web page. Through testing, marketing professionals and others should be able to identify what approach will better help them meet goals such as keeping visitors on a site longer or engage in transactions.

"You don't have to flip a coin" to figure out what Web site design and content is most effective, said Tom Leung, a Google business product manager. (Check out ClickZ columnist Bryan Eisenberg's interview last year with Leung about Google Analytics.)

In another announcement, Google's making its analytics tool available as a for-fee product when downloaded and installed on a company's server. Called Urchin, the tool was the basis of Google Analytics, an application that remains available for free on a hosted basis.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 15, 2008

Google TV Ads: General Release Confirmed for Next Few Weeks

Don't look now Ma, but your favorite soap's about to run its first ad for DogShoes.com.

Google has confirmed it will soon offer its TV Ads program, in trial mode since it launched a year ago, to all U.S. advertisers. In the next few weeks, AdWords customers large and small will be offered a shot at the broadcast glitz, complete with production referrals for those lacking TV-ready video assets.

The move indicates the company has resolved the volume issues that hobbled the program during its first months. As of late August 2007, just 50 clients had tested the system and the minimum spend was a modest (for TV) $10,000 a month, according to a source.

"Over the past months, our partnerships with DISH network and Astound Cable have scaled and we are pleased to expand our Google TV Ads program to more U.S. advertisers," the company said in a statement.

A story yesterday in Multichannel News had some additional details sourced to Keval Desai, Google product lead for the TV initiative. Desai told the pub advertisers including Lenovo and Priceline.com had placed ads through the system. “We serve millions of impressions daily," he reportedly added.

Desai was unavailable to comment today. Google would only add that it believes the wider advertiser launch "will ultimately lead to better, more relevant ads on television."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 9, 2008

Microsoft/Yahoo Maneuvers: Curiouser and Curiouser

There's seemingly no end to the improbable machinations swirling around Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo. A flurry of late breaking rumors and announcements today conjured up a series of outlandish scenarios, including the combination of Yahoo and AOL's Internet operations, a possible joint bid for Yahoo by Microsoft and News Corp, and the (confirmed) outsourcing of a portion of Yahoo's search ads to Google.

The very latest developments, reported by WSJ this evening, are that (1) Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL are busy "closing in on a deal" to combine their businesses, yet another desperate maneuver to escape Microsoft's embrace; and (2) Microsoft is in "serious talks" with News Corp. about a plan to combine forces in a bid for Yahoo. No additional details were mentioned about this previously undiscussed scenario.

According to the report, Time Warner would contribute AOL along with a cash investment in exchange for a 20 percent stake in the company. The deal would be contingent on the approval of Yahoo's shareholders.

The latest rumors come at the end of a frenetic day for Yahoo, which this morning announced the planned acquisition of analytics platform IndexTools and this afternoon reluctantly stated it would conduct a test of Google's search ads on its own results pages.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 2, 2008

DoubleClick Layoffs, Performics Sale Confirmed

The New York Times reports the DoubleClick layoffs are official, and imminent. They're also more widespread than expected, representing about 25 percent of DoubleClick's 1,200 U.S. employees.

Acquisitions breed layoffs, and these come as no surprise. Neither does the fact that Google will be selling off Performics, DoubleClick's SEM firm. Google owning an SEM firm would just plain look bad to clients worried about getting a clean deal from a search agency owned by the world's biggest search ad seller.

It would be like a large Web publisher owning an ad agency or something…. (Microsoft, anyone?)

Who might buy Performics? Valueclick has expressed an interest. At a conference in December, the company said it would want to be on the short list of suitors.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

Spamming, the Google Docs Way

Hey, why build a Web site to hawk your penile enlargement kits or questionable pharmaceuticals? Get with the program - there's a new way to spam. The Google Docs way!

Talk about optimizing landing pages.

We just received a "suggesation for purchaseing Cheap Drugs Online" (sic) in our spam folder. The call-to-action caught our eye - an invitation to click on an unembedded URL clearly leading to a Google Docs page. It's not like we would've ever thought of it ourselves, but spammers wear a special breed of thinking cap.

On the one hand, the spammer behind this scam probably isn't getting great analytics. But spammers aren't interested in crazy notions such as purchase funnels. Only results count. And if this kind of scam results in a much more circuitous route to a whois lookup, so much the better for the spammer.

What will they think of next?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

Google Click Volume 'Troubles': Month Two

Here we go again. ComScore has released its second consecutive report showing year over year and sequential flatness in Google's paid click volume. I addressed the issue last month, noting the company's ongoing efforts to improve click quality by reducing the number of ads on its network.

Blogs and pubs that use this metric as a minute to minute barometer of Google's health are missing the point. You can't separate causation here: How much is the result of Google's ongoing click quality initiatives, which are meant to increase cost per click and conversions while reducing overall clicks (a good thing for advertisers, and in the long run investors)? How much is the result of declining consumer confidence and ad effectiveness? (A bad thing for all parties obviously)

ComScore itself has argued you just can't draw any major conclusions from its findings. So please hold your tongue until Q1 earnings.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Provides YouTube Creators with Viewership Stats

Google today launches YouTube Insight, an analytics tool designed to allow a YouTube account holder to see how often her video is viewed based on geography and how it compares to others in that market.

Google is promoting the new feature as a way to help advertisers. "Insight will help advertisers optimize their marketing efforts, determine how successful they were, and discover previously unknown marketing opportunities," the company wrote in a news release.

On a Google blog, Tracy Chan, product manager, YouTube, wrote that the tool helps account holders to determine things like how long it takes for a video to become popular.

In another development, ClickZ yesterday spotted and reported on how Google is testing video ads in its search results pages from advertisers such as Intel and AT&T.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 26, 2008

Spotted in the Wild: Video Ads in Google Search Results

We've known since mid-February of Google's plans to test video ads in its search results pages, but we haven't seen them in action. That is until now. The below "testimonial" video ad for Intel is running today against a search for the company's name. Google SERP video ads were spotted earlier by two blogs:Google Operating System caught the same Intel clip on a search for "laptop," and Digital Inspiration screen-grabbed a video spot for AT&T that was placed against the keyword "phone."

The first image here shows what looks like a typical search ad with the addition of a plus sign (+), indicating the ad can be expanded:

Clicking (+) opens and plays the video. The ad is 45 seconds long and centered completely on a film maker's love for his computer chip. "This is the thing that lets me make movies," he says.

Once the clip plays out, a link to Intel's site appears over the video frame. Clicking the link takes the viewer to a product page for Intel's Quad Core Xeon processors.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 17, 2008

DoubleClick Acknowledges Widget Ads, Will Support Them

There used to be a running joke at DoubleClick that the company should hire a VP of widget technology. "It'd be a short-lived career," VP of Advertiser Products Ari Paparo told me in an interview last August. He uttered the somewhat mocking remark by way of acknowledging that ever more advertisers were asking for widget capabilities.

Six months later DoubleClick is giving them what they want. The Google-owned firm today announced support for widget (i.e. "embeddable") ads. The function will reside within DART for Advertisers, where agencies will be able to easily add "virality" to their rich media campaigns.

Gigya is supporting the ad sharing component through its Wildfire technology, which can process widget installs on 50 social media platforms, including social networks, blogs and bookmarking services.

The main value DoubleClick can bring to the widget advertising phenomenon is standardized reporting. DFA customers will be able to obtain metrics on the number of impressions, interactions, viral “grabs” for each of the social networks. That may eventually help marketers gauge the conversion impact of all that viral sharing.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 7, 2008

E.U. Set to Clear DoubleGoo merger?

The Financial Times published a report this week claiming that European regulators are preparing to give the go ahead for Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick.

The story attributes the information to 'a person familiar with the situation,' and states that a formal clearance of the deal could be granted by Tuesday. The commission itself has set a deadline for a decision by early April.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 29, 2008

ComScore Weighs in on Google Click Volume Debacle Sparked by Its Data

Earlier this week, when comScore set off a GOOG selling frenzy on Wall Steet with data showing click rate growth had flattened, I called the research firm for comment but to no avail. Amazing what 48 hours can bring. After a continued outcry, comScore has now issued a lengthy statement with additional data and charts (previously unavailable to non-clients) arguing, basically, that everyone should just calm down. Here's the money quote:

While we do not claim that these concerns are unwarranted, we believe a careful analysis of our search data does not lend them direct support. More specifically, the evidence suggests that the softness in Google’s paid click metrics is primarily a result of Google’s own quality initiatives that result in a reduction in the number of paid listings and, therefore, the opportunity for paid clicks to occur.

ComScore also shared the following chart, which demonstrates that click rates declined for much of last year, long before economic fears began bleeding into the nation's collective consciousness. It also shows how ad coverage, defined as the percentage of queries that display at least one ad, has declined roughly in parallel to click volume growth.

So you see, comScore says, Google is pumping fewer ads to its users and receiving fewer clicks in return. ComScore theorizes that reduction will be counterbalanced by an increase in revenue per query under the click quality initiative

On a separate but related note, agency heavy SearchIgnite has said it's seen none of the click volume declines described by comScore data, nor revenue shortfalls either. The agency, which claims to represent $200 million in search spending, said ad impressions for the first six weeks of 2008 were up 79.5 percent year over year, while paid clicks were up 47.2 percent. Additionally, ad spending on Google grew by 40.1 percent among the same group of clients (In other words the data doesn't include new business).

SearchIgnite's research should not be considered representative of the search industry at large, as it's just one agency with a defined group of clients who all share one thing in common: they follow SearchIgnite's advice. But then, can comScore's data be treated as really representative of consumers' click behaviors? After all, the company was seriously challenged by the IAB last year, and publishers of all stripes love to take potshots at its audience and traffic estimates.

My take continues to be that while the click rate fall-off is not necessarily the result of a lack of consumer confidence, a lack of confidence is bound to result in a reduction in click volume. More succinctly: No, Google's not insulated from a recession and no, comScore's findings are not (necessarily) a bad sign.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

Google's Declining Click Volume: Theories

So you've probably already read about the comScore data published yesterday suggesting Google's paid clicks are no longer growing as fast as they once were.

The measurement firm believes paid clicks in October were up 37 percent over the year ago period, a distinguished growth rate, but that they fell precipitously from there. It estimates they grew 27 percent in November, 12 percent in December, and were flat in January. Further, its said the volume of clicks actually declined sequentially last month, from December to January. Sequential data is less valid than year-over-year, especially between Q4 and Q1, but this is still worth noting since we're talking about the heretofore-invincible Big G.

Still, the finding shouldn't come as a shock. Google said itself, during its Jan. 31 earnings call, that clicks are no longer growing as fast as they once did. The company's explanations for the anemic growth center on an ongoing effort to improve click quality by reducing the number of ads on its sites and its network. Example: On AdSense for Content, Google has shrunk the clickable area around ads to reduce accidental clicks. It also seems to have further restricted search keyword bidding on generic and low-converting terms, for instance "baseball." (Ably explained by Greg Yardley here.)

Investors aren't buying it however and have pummeled the company's stock since close of business yesterday. Further, many news and blog reports seem to be assuming macro-economic conditions are the principle force behind the click declines.

There are two main recession arguments. The first is that small to mid-sized advertisers are scaling back their search spend. The Wall Street Journal today quoted a Majestic Research analyst to this effect. The analyst said the SMB fall-off had been happening for the past four to five months. If so, that's a huge development but I honestly don't buy it. During the Q4 earnings call, CEO Schmidt said rather vehemently the company has picked up no hints of a macro-economic slowdown in its advertisers' spending activity; and a decline in small businesses would certainly qualify as such a hint -- a hairy, ugly one at that. "I'm happy to say that we have not yet seen any negative impact from the rumors of future recessions," he told investors. "We'll see what happens."

The second, more convincing economic explanation is that consumers are holing up for the coming (perceived) recession and conducting fewer shopping related searches as a result. Fewer people in the purchase funnel equal fewer ad clicks, plain and simple. What categories get hit? Travel, new car buying, consumer electronics. Entertainment and CPG, maybe not so much.

While I buy that argument, I’m not sure it's happening yet. Hitwise offered a dissenting data point to comScore's report, finding Google's downstream traffic to retail sites in January increased year over year, the opposite of what you'd expect based on comScore's numbers.

A further point that must be mentioned is that comScore's data is not infallible. Anyone shorting the company's stock based on the findings of one measurement firm -- a firm frequently contested by major publishers, I might add -- would likely be making a mistake.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 15, 2008

Video Ads on Google Results Pages: How and Why

Beginning next week, Google plans to test video insertions on its famously QWERTY search results pages. The invite-only experiment will place small "plus sign" icons next to regular text ads, of the sort you sometimes see on Google Maps. When clicked, the symbols will expand to reveal a video ad that can be played manually by the searcher.

I spoke this afternoon with Google spokesperson Brandon McCormick, who said advertisers will pay by the click, whether that click starts the video or takes the viewer to a landing page. Bidding on keywords will take place through the AdWords interface, and video advertisers will compete with text links for placement. "The ad with the video would still have to be the best ad to appear" according to Google's quality scoring algorithms, he said.

He said Google was motivated to add richer ads to its SERPs because people are now used to seeing video and even expect it.

"As video gets more and more common on the Web, people are used to experiencing that level of engagement," he said. "We think, using the plus box video ad, we can maintain a positive user experience on Google.com and [provide a] richer experience."

I should be able to update this post with a screen grab by early next week, since McCormick said Google is eager to show these are non-intrusive placements.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Less Wind for Domain Kiting

Domain tasting (define) and kiting (define), where Web wrongdoers register domains for the five-day trial period to run ads or other quick moneymaking schemes then let the trial period lapse only to register again with another domain registry, has been in somewhat of a decline. Google took a step closer to stomping out any complicity of AdSense with a domain kiting detection system. "If we determine that a domain is being kited, we will not allow Google ads to appear on the site. We believe that this policy will have a positive impact for users and domain purchasers across the Web," said a Google spokesperson statement. It is not clear what the domain kiting detection system is, but some sources, including a blog post dating back to late January suggests Google will not accept domains less than five days old on the network, meaning under the tasting period.

Typo squatting won't be as easily squashed entirely. Just this morning Search Engine Journal posted not only an example, but a first hand experience coming across a typo squatting site.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 7, 2008

Web Analytics and Your Tax Dollars

You'd think cash-strapped government agencies that operate Web sites would jump at the availability of free and very robust tools such as Google Analytics.

Think again.

Earlier this week, I was on a fascinating call with the people who run many of the major federal government Web sites. The group included one woman who does the same for a state agency. We mostly talked metrics, and what measurements to consider when gauging the performance of sites that are non-commercial in nature -- like theirs.

Given the budgetary constraints these sites operate under, we spent a good deal of time discussing free (and very low cost), Web-based measurement tools, such as Alexa.com, Compete.com, and Quantcast. And, of course, Google Analytics.

That's when the woman from the state agency spoke up. Because her site represents a state government, and because hers is not the state of California, she cannot use Google Analytics on the site she operates. Why? Google's TOS, which specify "This Agreement shall be governed by and construed under the laws of the state of California..."

That's why at least one state agency is paying for (an admittedly more robust) commercial analytics package.

OK, so it's not $3.1 trillion in defense spending. But still.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 5, 2008

Google Beta on AdSense for Games Coming

This week at Casual Connect, the casual games conference, in Amsterdam, we expect a handful of announcements on Web-based games. One such announcement, unconfirmed by Google, is the launch of Google AdSense for Games in beta. A source we spoke to confirmed it will participate in the beta for its Web-based games. We didn't get too many details, but were told initial placements would be video units.

Posted by Enid Burns at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 3, 2008

Google Weighs In On Microhoo: It May Be Evil

David Drummond, Google SVP corporate development and chief legal officer, issued the company's official response to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo this afternoon. Essentially, Google's position is combining its two main competitors could be bad for the Internet...even border on evil.

Drummond says in the official Google statement:

"It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

"Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

"This hostile bid was announced on Friday so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed. We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture. We believe that the interests of Internet users come first -- and should come first -- as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 1, 2008

Google Earnings Tidbit: Big Clients Dig Cost Per Acquisition Pricing

One interesting detail from Google's Q4 earnings call that we didn't cover in our write-up yesterday: Google's very happy so far with the uptake in cost per acquisition pricing, which lets marketers name what a conversion's worth to them rather than what click's worth.

"That’s really gotten strong adoption, particularly among our larger clients, and we’re really excited about that," said Larry Page.

It’s healthy and necessary for Google to diversify its ad formats and pricing models, especially in light of shakiness in its overall click volume and massive consolidation of display ad inventory (to the tune of 59 percent of all display ads) that could happen under a combined Yahoo/Microsoft. Google's share of display ads meanwhile barely registers by comparison at one percent of the overall pie, Nielsen says.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 28, 2008

The Googling of an Icon

Google doodles appear to denote holidays and other special days, artists and people of note, and sometimes things a little closer to the commercialized world. To mark the 50th birthday of the LEGO, Google bricked up its logo. What's missing from the Google doodle treatment is that the LEGO'd logo doesn't link to a page of related search results.

LEGO claims a history with the search giant. In the early days of Google's 10-year history it used LEGOs to create a casing around 10 4-GigaByte hard disks (image) supporting the development of the search engine. Google is also said to have the bricks around the campus offices to encourage creativity, and reportedly to test new recruits.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 25, 2008

Political Attack Ads Seen on Google Despite Rules

Yesterday Google's online political ad manager Peter Greenberger posted its rules on political ads. There are some interesting regulations involving personal attacks, donation landing pages and misleading ad copy.

On fairness: "We permit political advertisements regardless of the political views they represent, and apply our policies equally."

On donations: "Your ad's landing page must clearly state that the donations are non-tax-deductible."

On misleading ads: They ain't allowed. "Ad text must be clear, easy to read, and descriptive of a candidate or cause." They also can't dupe the user into thinking they're for one candidate or group when they really lead to an opponent's page.

This might be the most interesting of all:

On personal attacks: "Political ads must not include accusations or attacks relating to an individual's personal life, nor can they advocate against a protected group."

What's particularly interesting, is I've seen what looks to me like an attack ad aimed at Mitt Romney's Mormonism throughout the primary season. (Not only is this kinda personal, Mormonism would fall within the "protected" group category.) "Truth About Mitt Romney," read the ad I've spotted. "The Secret Mormon Plan Revealed. What Every American Must Know!" The ad, targeted to keyword "Mitt Romney," appeared to be placed by an anti-Mormon (who used to be one) pushing his book.

But I didn't see it today. Perhaps Google finally caught wind of it and disabled it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 24, 2008

Google's Demo Targeting for Social Sites

Google "unveiled" demographic targeting today in its AdSense program. Sort of. The firm already had been offering demo-targeting to AdSense publisher sites based on ComScore audience data on those sites. That was called "demographic site selection" and it's still available.

What's new is the use of registration data from selected publisher sites, mainly social networking sites, supposedly including MySpace, that have collected reg information on users. A Google spokesperson wouldn't say which sites or how many sites are involved.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

Publicis and Google: All About the Pitching?

So Publicis and Google have a relationship. Call it an understanding. They're going to exchange knowledge. And people. And it's going to be... unprecedented.

Here's the official statement from Publicis:

This collaboration, underway for over one year, is based on a shared vision of how new technologies can be used to improve advertising.

Riveting stuff, eh? Yet the lack of detail didn't prevent news outlets from writing several dozen stories about the supposed pair-up. Here's what we know based on existing reports, along with a few guesses about what the Googlicis arrangement might (or might not) mean:

The gist of the tango, according to Reuters: "Google would exchange its technological know-how for Publicis's analytical and media planning expertise." A nice idea, but Google works alone, see? Sort of like the Terminator, or maybe Harvey Keitel's character in Pulp Fiction. Joint ventures and partnerships aren't really its bag. Google has, however, shown a great interest in getting large brand marketers to spend more of their money with it. Not coincidentally, Publicis also would like to see those clients increase their digital spends -- just as long as they do so through Publicis.

Google and Publicis will have dedicated staff on-site at each others' offices "for a few months or a year." Agencies do this with their clients all the time. For the sake of argument, consider this new deal an analogous scenario in which Google is the agency (though it swears it's not), consulting with its client (Publicis and its various units, as well as their brands) on various methods by which the latter could spend more money. The Google staffers sit in on pitches and develop media plans across the company's network. As for the other end of the exchange program, I'm somewhat baffled. All I can say is my heart goes out to any Publicis staffers with the dubious luck to be stationed at Google "for several months or a year." The line here between pitch and collaboration is very murky, and who could stand being pitched for that length of time? I couldn't.

Google will launch a global account team for Publicis, "the first of its kind with a Global Advertising Group." This is the key piece of the relationship, if you ask me. And it's something Google has pursued aggressively with the entire agency community for well over a year. Believe me, the company would leap at the chance to do the same thing with any of the major holding companies. As an aside: It seems to me there's a slight risk for Google in appearing to align itself with one major ad network to the exclusion of the others.

Anyway, now you have my two cents. Maybe it's worth less than that. In the end, what's more interesting to me than the nature of the collaboration is how much Publicis committed to spend with Google to get this feather in its bizdev cap.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 17, 2008

Google Enables Checkout for Political Donations

Most political ad observers agree the presidential campaigns could be doing a lot more by way of paid search. Still, Google's political ad guy tells me they're doing a lot in that category. We've spotted some paid search ads placed by the presidential campaigns so far, too. A lot of those ads are placed in the hopes of garnering online donations, so it comes as no surprise Google has enabled its Checkout Web payment service for political contributions.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 20, 2007

What European Consumer Advocates Are Saying About Google/DoubleClick

As the FTC finally gives the green light to Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick, all eyes are now on Europe's investigation of the deal.

Following its initial warnings issued in late June, consumer group BEUC has once again written to the European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to express concerns over Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Doubleclick.

The BEUC (The European Consumers' Organisation), which represents 41 pro-consumer groups from across Europe, is arguing that the deal is "not in the interest of European consumers." The letter cited three main areas of concern: pricing and competition, harm to consumers, and matters of privacy.

Firstly the correspondence suggests that the deal would have a significant negative impact on pricing, and could ultimately impede on publishers' revenue. It states that Google would be free to raise prices and prevent rival networks from using Doubleclick's technology, resulting in Web publishers seeing "a reduction in the revenue they receive from Google" and passing these costs on to the consumer.

On competition grounds it argues that the deal would place the entire online advertising market in jeopardy, as the company would "dominate both major pipelines for online advertising." It goes on to state that "there will be no real alternative to the combined entity for advertisers and web publishers," which will apparently result in the "significant harm" of European consumers.

Finally the letter expresses concerns over consumer privacy and welfare, stating that the merger would create a structure that would "almost certainly be less respectful of user privacy." It argues that privacy protection is a competitive differentiator in the ad serving market, and that the merger would eradicate incentives for Google to innovate in the area since competition will have been diminished.

The European Commission is now carrying out a second-phase investigation into competition concerns surrounding the deal. As previously reported by ClickZ news, disapproval from the European Commission is likely to result in a collapse of the entire deal irrespective of the FTC's decision, since both companies generate significant revenue from within Europe.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 14, 2007

Google Zeitgeist: Who is God? Who is Satan?

What's on the minds -- and fingertips -- of Google searchers in 2007? In its year-end Zeitgeist, Google identifies trends that show search queries range from the simple to complex, from commercial to spiritual.

Fastest rising search term in the U.S. in 2007: iPhone, followed by Webkinz, TMZ, Transformers, and YouTube. (Keep in mind: type in any of these terms in a Web browser, and one can bypass Google to reach these brands.)

American Idol was the most popular global search query on Google News; last year it was Paris Hilton.

Information seekers sought out "Who is God" (No. 1) more often than "Who is Satan" (No. 10).

"What is love" led searches for "what is," followed by "what is autism" and "what is RSS."

Which leaves one to ponder: what is up with that?

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 4, 2007

Google Adds to Local Ads

Google is looking to spice up its local business ad listings with a new user interface design called AdWords Local PlusBox. The updated design will give ads that are located above organic search results the ability to expand and display maps, addresses, phone numbers and driving directions to the business. Google doesn't plan on charging extra for the display features, but will continue to charge customers when a user clicks on a link to their landing page.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

Google Video Units Hit the U.K.

Google has today announced the availability of its AdSense Video Units in the U.K. and Ireland, following the U.S. launch in October.

As reported by ClickZ News last month, the units allow publishers to display YouTube content within an embedded player on their site. Content-relevant text overlay ads are then displayed within the lower portion of the unit, with ads rotated every 20 seconds. Ads are sold on a CPM or cost-per-click basis.

Publishers can choose categories of video to target their site, specify individual YouTube partners, or have video units automatically target their site with relevant video. In theory this will allow U.K. sites to display U.K.-only content if required or desired. Other than that, the units themselves are identical to their U.S. equivalents. In a press release, David Thacker, group product manager for Google stated the program will "create a new revenue opportunity for publishers and content owners, and help advertisers reach their target audiences in new and innovative ways."

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

Android Developer Challenge

Google made available the SDK for its Android open standard mobile operating system as part of the Open Handset Alliance. Details on the platform and the SDK are available on Google's blog.

Google also announced the Android Developer Challenge where the search company will award a total of $10 million between two tiers of submissions. Challenge I, with entries being accepted between January 2 and March 3 of next year, will reward the 50 most promising entries $25,000 to fund further development. The pool of 50 winners will be eligible for an additional $100,000 to $275,000 for their work. Challenge II will commence once handsets are released into the market.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 8, 2007

Google Site Targeting Becomes More Targeted

Google notified us this week that its made some enhancements to site targeting on its content network. It's now called placement targeting, because you can now specify page-specific or content-specific, in addition to targeting by demographics which has already been available.

Not only is there more focus on placement targeting, but it's now available in cost-per-click (CPC) bidding format. Previously, site targeting was previously only offered through cost-per-impression (CPM) bidding. Google says advertisers can now choose the bidding option that best matches their needs. "If the purpose of your placement-targeted campaign is to increase sales, leads, sign-ups, or other conversion-oriented metrics, you can select CPC bidding and pay when users click on your ads." Alternately, "If you want to maximize impressions and increase brand awareness among your target audience, you can select CPC. And you can specify either the maximum price or the average price you want to pay for each click or 1,000 impressions.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 6, 2007

Android Trademark

Google's mobile operating system Android is now out of the bag. And Google acquired the mobile company Android, which supplied the name, back in 2005. Though it's registered a trademark on the name Android only days before the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and Android. The trademark covers hardware and software, though the announcement only covered the open source software.

On the conference call yesterday, Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt attempted to head off questions of a so called G-Phone by stating "this is not an announcement for the G-Phone, we are hoping that this will power thousands of phones," in his opening remarks. That didn't stop follow-up questions. Those questions were addressed. "Google does not pre-announce anything. If you were to build a G-Phone, this would be the perfect platform," said Schmidt. He also said "we don't want to foreclose on announcements in the future." With the trademark covering hardware and software, it provides a chance there could be a phone called G some day.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 31, 2007

Google Gets Social

Google is handing out a Halloween treat to Web developers today by making its OpenSocial common API available. With OpenSocial, developers will be able to write one application that can be distributed in multiple Web sites and social networks, if they go along with it of course.

Social networking firms including LinkedIn, Hi5, iLike, Ling, Slide and Google's own Orkut network have signed on as part of the launch of OpenSocial, but distinctly missing are the big names of social networking…Facebook and mySpace.

Facebook made big news and developed a lot of momentum by opening its platform last May, but still holds the reins over its more proprietary APIs. It's worth noting that both iLike and Slide have been major Facebook developers. As more advertisers try to get in on the social networking marketing bandwagon, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Google may bring more partners to its OpenSocial system and Facebook and mySpace will be obligated to provide access to their networks via OpenSocial APIs.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 24, 2007

Google Pairs with Nielsen on Data for TV Ads Program

Google's bid marketplace for television ad inventory has gotten off to a slow start by many measures. By August a Google source told ClickZ just 50 clients had tested the system, and the minimum spend had been set at a modest (for TV) $10,000 a month.

There are signs the marketplace is maturing, if only by small increments. In addition to doubling the inventory in its systemv, Google will now use demographic data from Nielsen in combination with set top box data that allows the company to bill customers only for actual impressions, as opposed to the industry-standard GRP-driven billing model.

As part of the partnership, users of Google TV Ads within the AdWords platform will be able to gauge the demographic composition of audiences through data taken from Nielsen's TV ratings panels. The companies also plan to "work together" to measure other online data and media, but declined to comment further.

Google launched its Google TV Ads advertising platform earlier this year. Last week In-Stat analyst Gerry Kaufhold said the trials so far "didn't seem to satisfy all the needs" of broadcasters. "Google has quite a ways to go to get into that broadcast arena."

Matt Nelson contributed to this post.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 14, 2007

Google Earth is a New Home for YouTube Videos

Taking a trip to Paris? Why not check out some YouTube video from the top of the Eiffel Tower? Or better yet, a video review of the restaurants there? That seems to be the opportunity that Google is looking to provide users of its Google Earth mapping system.

The search giant is now providing YouTube videos connected to specific locations within Google Earth by allowing the geotagging of videos. And although Google is touting the availability of videos linked to locations on the Earth map as yet another means of sharing interesting information, it didn't take the smart people over at analyst firm the Kelsey Group long to figure out that it also provides some new advertising opportunities as well. It's not hard to see how those in the travel industry or in local business might utilize geotargeted video advertisements, linked through Google Earth, to bring in business.

Considering that Google has just recently been experimenting with its video content distribution network and how to link YouTube videos and Google resources together, that the idea has obviously occurred to the folks at Google as well. Considering the linking of video to adSense, will additional links to Google Earth be far behind?

Posted by MatthewNelson at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 11, 2007

Despite Reports, DoubleGoo Still Portrayed as a Merger of Competitors

A Reuters piece today notes various predictions about whether the DoubleGoo acquisition will go through, concluding it will. A couple people interviewed, including Mark Kovner, an antitrust lawyer with Kirkland & Ellis, said the Federal Trade Commission probably wouldn't block the merger since it's a vertical one, rather than one between "head-to-head" competitors.

Thing is, the opponents of the merger, particularly Microsoft, are doing their damndest to portray it as just that: a merger of direct competitors. Along with a lawyer representing Microsoft, an industry observer at last month's Senate hearing on the acquisition, Scott Cleland, president of tech industry research and consulting firm Precursor, took pains to categorize the two firms as competitors.

In his testimony, Cleland suggested the companies compete for the same ad dollars and are "interrelated" by sharing the same viewers, advertisers, publishers and data. "It's like saying your eyes and your ears don't compete for your brain's attention," Cleland said, later adding, "Google will create a brain where it controls all of the major networks [of viewers, publishers, advertisers and data.]"

Microsoft SVP and General Counsel Brad Smith backed him up, saying the acquisition raises questions regarding the economic implications of allowing the "largest company in Internet advertising" to buy its "most significant competitor."

If these folks have as much influence as they'd like to, and if they manage to convince Senators and those in the House who may hold a hearing on the deal, it may not simply glide by the FTC.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 9, 2007

Google Competitor Ads in Video on AdSense Blog

We couldn't help but chuckle this morning when checking out Google's AdSense Blog post about the new video content/ad network Goo(we're not a media company)gle is running with YouTube.

The first ad that loaded into the video player sample was for none other than an AdSense competitor, ADS-click. Now that's a coup.

Hmmm...you'd think Google would have employed its own Competitive Ad Filter, eh?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 8, 2007

GPhone Guessing Game

Google's mobile phone ambition centers on convincing mobile phone manufacturers and wireless carriers to offer phones based on Google's software, The New York Times reports today.

Google is working on a mobile phone operating system based on open-source Linux software that would compete with Microsoft's Windows mobile, according to an unnamed industry executive quoted by the Times. Applications reportedly include mobile search, mapping software, and Web browser.

Mobile advertising may subsidize a portion of the phone's costs, the report says.

The Google phone, or GPhone, is seen as a way for Google to make a grab for additional mobile advertising, a growth market.

Over this past year, there's been widespread discussion over Google's planned phone, including the possibility it may include a phone service subsidized by mobile advertisements. Others have speculated what the phone will look like.

In its report about the GPhone, BusinessWeek last week cranked up the volume on that discourse and examined other advertising-subsidized phone services, such as Virgin Mobile's Sugar Mama. Oh, that's sweet.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No Ads on Orkut, but Apps May Come

Last week The Wall Street Journal reported Google's social networking play, Orkut, will no longer run ads. The site, popular in Brazil, wasn't running many in the first place though. According to a Google statement e-mailed to ClickZ News, "Ads on orkut were in an early-stage testing phase (less than 1% of the communities were being served with ads) when Google made the decision to withdraw all ads from the site. Google is temporarily withdrawing the tests on ads to evaluate and enhance the system."

The ads were removed because they had been found running alongside child pornography. Google said this is old news since ads were discontinued in August, as a result of complaints from nonprofit Safernet, along with Brazilian regulators.

Search Engine Journal also reported as early as last December that ads in Orkut were running ads against profiles associated with the likes of Al-Qaida and Hezbollah.

While Orkut is a blip on the social networking screen here in the U.S., Google could change that if it does open up its API to developers, à la Facebook; as reported by Business Week and others, this is in the works.

"BusinessWeek.com has learned that third-party developers based in India have been told that the code, known to developers as an Application Programming Interface (API), would be made available around Nov. 5."

The app onslaught is certainly driving more traffic to Facebook, and apparently Google hopes U.S. developers creating for its API will lead social site junkies to Orkut. Still, if the company can't get its Orkut ad model figured out, what's the point? I expect ad master Google will figure something out.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 28, 2007

You Know It's Time to Modify Your AdWords & AdSense Campaigns When...

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 27, 2007

Google Middle Earth

The road through Middle Earth is long and windy, and now it's been mapped by Google. For its "Lord of the Rings Online" game, developer and publisher Turbine, Inc. licensed the Google Maps API to map out world of "Lord of the Rings." And like all things Google, it's in beta! "We will keep it in beta as long as we're adding features," said Jim Drewry, director of marketing at Turbine. The map and wiki Turbine offers to its users is part of a retention-based marketing strategy.

When Turbine called Google to ask about licensing the map API to create a map for Middle Earth, Google was a little taken aback. When you use the API Google "almost assumes you will be mapping the earth. When it's not the earth, things get interesting," said Drewry. Turbine created the map with hundreds of thousands of map tiles stitched together. It's hosted by Turbine, and trafficked through Akamai.

link

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 21, 2007

Google Updates Newspaper Print Ad System

Google's synching up its DIY ad platform to better work with newspaper classifieds systems. At least, that's what it looks like. The company has unveiled a new free ad creation tool that allows AdWords advertisers using the Print Ads interface to build ads in templates "designed to fit the ad size you've selected for each specific insertion," according to a press statement. Advertisers can upload logos, images, headlines and text.

Google also said it's print paper network includes inventory from "over 450 newspapers (which includes a growing offering of college, Spanish-language and free papers)." No word yet from the company on the names of new publisher partners, though.

This print project at Google is obviously a work in progress, and it appears the company may have been experiencing some glitches when it came to translating its online text ad platform to stodgy print paper classifieds systems. Not surprising, really.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 20, 2007

Rumor: Google Buying Sirius?

A high profile source is pretty convinced ol' Goog is on the verge of snapping up Sirius Radio. Heard anything of the sort? Do get in touch.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Scooter Etiquette

This morning Google's New York office opened its doors to media. A pre-session conversation with Tim Armstrong, Google's president of advertising and commerce, revealed a certain scooter etiquette practiced around the NY office, after a few incidents. He said because the hallways are so long, people really pick up speed. The perfect storm occurs when someone walks out of a room, which has a sliding door and is not so easy to detect when wheeling down those hallways. Armstrong also said there are parking racks for scooters. A few people upgraded to motorized scooters, which is no longer allowed.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2007

Google Reminds FTC of Online Advertising's Good Sides

Do Google ads foster freer, more robust and more diverse speech? Google thinks so, and the company wants the Federal Trade Commission to know it. The Web giant sent the FTC, which will delve into the worlds of online advertising and behavioral targeting and tracking in a November “Town Hall,” suggestions for topics to consider in addition to what the FTC has already laid out as its discussion points. The FTC already plans to consider how online behavioral advertising works, companies in the sector, types of data collected and how it’s used, data security and disclosure, consumer understanding and regulatory standards.

Mainly, Google wants the commission to consider the role of online advertising in “providing free, accessible, user-friendly, and high-quality content to consumers,” according to Google’s Public Policy Blog. “The growth in online advertising has also spurred innovation, competition, and investment in the online advertising space – all of which produce consumer benefits in the form of more online resources and more relevant information,” wrote Google Policy Counsel Pablo Chavez.

The firm also stresses the “vibrant small business community” that is enabled through online advertising. Not only can individual publishers earn part-time and full-time funds through online ads, Chavez writes, “Our advertising network helps small businesses connect in an affordable and effective manner with otherwise unreachable consumers, including consumers in small, remote, or niche markets.”

Of course, Google’s DoubleClick purchase and subsequent outcries from privacy advocates has spotlighted issues surrounding data privacy in the online ad space. At the end of the post, however, Chavez claims the proposed DoubleClick acquisition “provides an opportunity for us to bolster privacy even further,” which prompted a couple blog comments wondering exactly how.

One suspects the FTC will be wondering the same thing.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

Google Seeks Global Privacy Standards as DoubleClick Deal is Challenged in EU, Australia

Google said last week it would advocate for global standards on privacy protection, which could ease the privacy outcries and regulatory snags that tend to accompany its product and business moves around the world.

Speaking at a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) meeting on ethics and human rights in France Friday, Google global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer put forward proposals for new global privacy rules protecting consumer data. In a blog post earlier today he stated that “as long as there are no global standards for privacy protection, individuals and businesses will remain at risk as they operate online.”

Fleischer went on to suggest that the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) framework laid out at the 2004 conference provided an appropriate foundation on which to build, arguing that “if privacy principles can be agreed upon within the 21 APEC member economies, a similar set of principles could be applied on a global scale”.

Cynics may point out the timing of the announcements in light of hostility towards the proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Doubleclick. In an e-mail sent to ClickZ, the Executive Director for the Center for Digital Democracy Jeff Chester stated “It's clear that this is motivated in part to dampen the growing opposition to the takeover. Google is attempting to head-off a global regulatory digital train-wreck.”

Fleischer played down links between today’s announcements and the pending deal however, describing a “sustained multi-pronged effort by Google to improve privacy practices”, and stating that “We would do this regardless of whether DoubleClick were part of the equation or not.”

Of course, Google is no stranger to Internet privacy concerns. Worries about its practices date back to 2004, when Privacy International filed complaints against targeted ads in Gmail. Doubleclick or no Doubleclick, it seems that Google has learned its lesson, and this time round is rather sensibly adopting a pre-emptive, rather than reactive approach.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 6, 2007

Aussie Regulators Scrutinize Google/DoubleClick Deal

A helpful reminder from the Outback that a merger of Google and DoubleClick would be a joining of global organizations, not merely American ones: The Sydney Herald reported yesterday that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have begun an "informal review" of the proposed deal on the theory it might be anti-competitive, just as the EU anti-trust watchdog did in July.

But assuming for a moment the ACCC or EU does in fact deem the deal untoward, what could they do about an agreement between two businesses with headquarters in the U.S.? Certainly not block it. Options might include penalties, fees and legal obstructions to Google doing business in the countries in question. Or regulators could try to limit how individual Australian businesses use the compnay's services, but monitoring that use and enforcing it is a prospect that would make our loathed Sarbanes-Oxley rules seem as innocuous as filling out a form.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 29, 2007

Google to Double TV Ad Inventory

In the next week or two, Google will double the amount of TV inventory it's making available to advertisers, ClickZ has learned.

The company's trial program to manage television ads seems to have gotten off to a slow start. Our Google source said the minimum spend for the beta program is a modest (for TV) $10,000 a month, and just 50 clients have tested the system so far. We don't know whether the new inventory is coming from existing partners EchoStar and Astound Cable or from new sources. Google announced the trial in April.

We have a call in to Google but, not shockingly, haven't heard back.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 22, 2007

Google Gals A-Twitter Over Tim Armstrong

Google's studly President of Advertising and Commerce Tim Armstrong is apparently the object of more than one Google gal's semi-secret affections.

Word has it that a number of besotted female staffers in the New York office are using Twitter to track Armstrong sightings at Googleplex East. Wonder if there's any reciprocity from the Mountain View staff when he 's visiting HQ?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google's Mayer talks Universal Search, Personalization and the iPhone at SES

At her Keynote Conversation at Search Engine Strategies Show in San Jose today, Marissa Mayer, vice president, search products & user experience at Google, smoothly answered questions ranging from searching video content to Google Sky to her thoughts on Facebook.

Mayer started by discussing universal search, stressing that the company is happy with the results so far and that the system will continue to evolve to include more options. In addition to maps, news, images, video and books search areas, Google will look at adding blogs and scholars search options as well, she said, to help the service have an almost " encyclopedia" feel to it. She also said that personalized search, although under development for some years now, is still in its infancy and would continue to have an evolving affect on how users search for information and have ads served to them.

"The past few months have been a big leap forward. One thing that I was surprised by is that one thing that can help improve the relevance of search the most is the query that someone just did," she said, clearly referring to Google's recent use of behavioral targeting style search results for placing ads. "For search and ads it's important that they match in the searches that the user has done. We ultimately want there to be parity between the way we match ads and the search results. Because we're just getting started with the science of personalization, it's hard to know what variables in the equation will affect it."

Mayer also pointed out that Google is making the users history of searches transparent to allow them to alter or remove searches to improve the personalization of the service. "You can actually go there and the control element you can actually remove those items from that history and reset the affect of that personal action," she said.

When asked about what non-Google related products or companies she was most interested in, she touted Facebook for its open source infrastructure and the method in which it collects social graph information on relationships. She also did her own version of a scene that has happened over and over again with techies and "new product junkies" in recent weeks, she pulled out her iPhone to show off the features of Google Maps and how the device can integrate with the Google Voice Local Search (aka GOOG-411) service.

"It actually sends you an SMS message that has a link to the maps with that results. It's a great service," she said, holding up the device for cameras. "I definitely think that the iPhone has illustrated what can happen when you have a full operating system on a computer and the ability to load a Web page without any restraints. We're eager to partner with people like Apple to get some of our applications preloaded."

Posted by MatthewNelson at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 3, 2007

Answers.com Draws Attention to Google Dance

For years advertisers have whined about the so-called "Google Dance" the search engine giant performs every so often to adjust the algorithms dictating how search results are organized. When Google bothers to acknowledge their ire, a shrug is pretty much the response advertisers get. It's all about improving the user experience, Google will say, and if advertisers or Web publishers get lost in the shuffle, so be it.

Well, this time 'round a more significant player than the typical SEM/SEO firms, small-time ecommerce outfits and lead gen/affiliate guys has drawn attention to the GooDance. Answers Corporation, which just so happens to be the default provider of definitions linked from Google results pages, is blaming the search engine's algorithm switch-ups for a big drop in search traffic.

Yesterday Answers put out a press statement warning investors that it's seen a fall of around 28 percent in search traffic since Google's most recent algorithm alteration.

Recognizing Google does the shuffle often, Answers CEO Bob Rosenschein said in the statement, "We are working diligently to analyze and address the recent algorithm change….We will update investors on the financial impact of this development during our upcoming Q2 earnings conference call on August 13."

But as a colleague here at ClickZ noted earlier today, Q2 2007 numbers shouldn't be affected by something that apparently took place just a week ago. (The second quarter ended June 30.)
There's been a lot of speculation about whether or not Answers will go through with its Dictionary.com buy considering its ad revenues will deflate if traffic is down; that will result in less pages viewed and, thus, less ad inventory.

Rosenschein attempted to cut off such concerns at the pass, noting "This change only demonstrates the sound business rationale behind our agreement to purchase Dictionary.com, because it underscores a primary motivation for the deal: to secure a steady source of direct traffic and mitigate our current dependence on search engine algorithms."

In other words, we're sick and tired of having to rely on Google to bring in eyeballs, so why not buy 'em. When the company announced the proposed acquisition, it noted "key benefits" of the purchase would include three times more pageviews and more guaranteed "direct traffic." Answers said in its acquisition announcement, "Over 85% of Lexico's traffic is direct from end users or people searching specifically for the term 'dictionary' in search engines. The resulting shift in traffic mix should significantly reduce Answers.com's current reliance on search engine algorithms."

Well, I guess all we can do is wait and see….

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 1, 2007

Google's Behavioral Search Ads

Yesterday ClickZ broke the news of Google's move into behavioral search ads. After pestering Google PR for weeks to discuss behavioral in general, and then reading the posts of two highly observant search bloggers who've lately noticed some *very* personalized search ads, I finally got a call with an executive in the ad quality group.

Last night Google talked a little more about the feature during a round table talk with journalists at its Mountain View HQ, so I expect a few more reports to appear today.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 26, 2007

Mapping out Good Business

Tech savvy consumers are well aware of the usefulness of mapping programs to find the businesses they're looking for, and it's clear that businesses are starting to take a closer look at how they can improve their listings and woo consumers to them.

With that idea in mind, Google Maps is giving both sides of the fence new tools to help consumers reach good businesses but offering user ratings and reviews directly from its map system. Some time ago, Google Maps made it possible for businesses to list themselves directly onto its mapping platform, but now it's giving users the ability to rank those listings and even make comments on them. Using Google Maps, users can search for a listing, click on the "More Info" link, and then the "Write a Review" section.

With all the interest in maps, including having the ability to place ads directly onto them, I have to wonder if local social media sites like CitySearch, Yelp, Judy's Book, Backfence and others have a new battle on their hands as the map giants like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo push into their market in new ways.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 25, 2007

eBay Halfheartedly Returns to Google

Less than two weeks after announcing it was ditching Google, eBay is back, but not in full force. According to a New York Times report, eBay discovered, through what it stressed earlier was simply an ad optimization experiment, it wasn't as dependent on Google's AdWords as "some people thought."

As reported here, eBay pulled its ads aimed at U.S.-based Google users on or before June 13. Coincidentally, and many believe in direct response, the online auction house made the decision official after Google threatened to host a protest of eBay's ban on Google's Checkout payment system during eBay's annual bash for its hardcore sellers.

Of course, eBay owns Checkout rival PayPal, so it's no surprise it would rather not allow another digital transaction system on its site. Plus, although eBay will be allocating dollars to all the big search engines, it's got a special relationship with the Google adversary Yahoo, which both handles display ads on the eBay site and serves sponsored text links on eBay. Indeed, some folks think it's about time Yahoo and eBay tie the knot officially.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Insider Thinks Google Won’t Serve DoubleClick’s ASP Customers

I had an interesting talk with Dana Ghavami, CEO of rich media/ad management firm CheckM8 the other day. One topic our discussion naturally flowed towards was the recent upheaval in the ad management space, spurred on by Google’s DoubleClick purchase. I asked him what he thought of AOL’s acquisition of AdTech, a lesser-known Germany-based ad management firm with strong ties to the European market.

While some insiders in the ad management sector have told me they don’t think the acquisition will affect AOL’s relationship with the now Google-owned DoubleClick (AOL is one of if not the biggest client DC has), Ghavami disagreed.

“I don't think it’s a coincidence that they outright bought AdTech," he told me during our talk a couple weeks ago. “I would go so far as to say that AOL Time Warner will be using AdTech as their in-house publisher solution."

Ghavami believes that once Google begins servicing DoubleClick clients, it may ditch companies like AOL that license its technology, rather than plugging into DC through its ASP system.

“There is a very good chance that DoubleClick is no longer going to support their licenses," said Ghavami. He believes that Google bought DC for access to the data flowing through its ASP system, and if they don’t have access to some clients’ data, they won’t want to serve them, at least in the current capacity. He added, “They don't want to have the DoubleClick data out of their hands on the publishers’ systems….It’s outside of the Googleplex.”

Continued Ghavami, “DoubleClick is now serving the interests of Google and not DoubleClick's customers.”

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 22, 2007

Google's Schmidt: Expect More iPhone Integrations

"iPhone is a powerful new device and is going to be particularly good for the apps that Google is building. You should expect other announcements from the two companies over time," a ZDNET story quoted as saying at an event in Paris.

Is the iPhone Google's real mobile platform strategy?

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2007

Google Sweet Google

Google Maps didn't photograph my cats, although my living room window is clearly visible in their shot of my building.

Rather, they immortalized me (as well as a neighbor) leaving our building.

The friend who called this to my attention notes, "Looks like it was taken in April...the facade on the new vitamin shop hasn't changed yet" (he strolled down the street to check).

It's a weird feeling, all right. But blurry enough so I don't feel violated or anything.

My friend added: "Now, of course, you need to Google your place of employ to see if they have you walking out of that."

I don't think I want to.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2007

Google and Privacy International's Black Band of Doom: Behavioral Ad Implications

Privacy International's decision to assign Google the loathsome Black
Band of Privacy Sinfulness in its new privacy ranking report was clearly intended to be provocative. The very public demerit signifies the worst possible privacy practices, though to read Matt Cutts's rebuttal from Google and Danny Sullivan's careful analysis, the report may deserve a black band of its own.

I wouldn't presume to comment directly on the report's fairness or methods, or even the likely public response to it. But it's fair to say Google's growing influence and antagonistic relationship with privacy watchdogs is creating a growing problem for the company, and could pose a challenge to certain of Google's theoretical ad initiatives of the future -- namely behavioral targeting.

While the company has said it will not target ads on behavior, the truth is it already does serve some behaviorally targeted ads to users of its toolbar (who agree to receive them when they install it). Many in the industry now believe it's just a matter of time before it rolls this targeting option out elsewhere on its network. Will it be AdSense? YouTube? DoubleClick's nascent ad exchange? Google.com is likely the last place the company would deploy behavioral targeting, but after phasing it in across a suite of other services, gauging the public reaction by degrees, why not there too?

I'm not being entirely speculative. The company has lately given signals that it's lowering its resistance to serving ads this way, making on-the record remarks to the effect that better personalization of ads is a good thing, without ever being specific about what exactly that could mean.

A major privacy backlash against Google, or against the Web at large, coming either from the consumer or the government side of the equation, could slow down those plans -- if indeed, any such plans exist. Privacy International's report is certainly in part an attempt to generate such a backlash. Watch closely the public and legislative response. It could offer a clue about when, if ever, we can expect to see behavioral targeting on the Web's biggest ad platform.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 7, 2007

Google Bathing in Gravy as Marketers Squeeze Margins to Win Search Bidding Wars

Despite continued growth in search spending, ROI on search campaigns in Q1 was down 43 percent since last year, according to the latest search trend report from DoubleClick's Performics unit. That makes sense when you think about it, since more and more advertisers are competing for the same limited pool of clicks, bidding up prices and squeezing their margins in the process. The winner in this bidding war is Google. The losers: everyone else.

Performics said the lowered ROI is also due to greater use of search as a branding channel, but I'd expect that's a smaller factor than the rising cost of keywords for direct marketing campaigns.

In any case, average cost per click and cost per keyword both spiked. Campaigns included six times as many keywords with a cost per click above $1 and used 54 percent more keywords than they did a year ago.

The report had some other interesting findings, including that Yahoo search costs are down sharply, a further validation of Panama and Yahoo's quality rankings. Sales and transactions through Yahoo were down, but advertisers purchased fewer clicks and spent less overall to acquire them.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 29, 2007

Google and Microsoft Adding Street Level Views to Maps

Both Microsoft and Google are adding new features to their Map applications available online, and frankly both look pretty cool.

And while this is clearly another case of the two high tech giants battling it out for Internet eyeballs, it's interesting to note that the two companies took very different approaches to how they wanted to give users a whole new way to view their map results.

Microsoft is now offering three-dimensional, photo-realistic views of New York City buildings and landscapes via Microsoft Live Search Maps. Using its system, and taking note that Windows Media Player 9 is strictly required, a Live Search Maps user can fly through the New York streets in a gray scale but detailed 3-D map of the city. Google Maps, on the other hand, is now offering its Street View as actual 360 degree photographed images of areas a user might be interested in. The Google Maps Street View images can also be manipulated to swing around your point of view or "move" down the street.

In addition to New York City, Microsoft is planning on providing cityscapes of Austin, Texas; Cape Coral, Fla.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind., including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Northampton, England; Ottawa; Savannah, Ga. and Tampa, Fla. Google is starting off its Street View with the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami. Google is also launching Mapplets, as a developers tool to enable third party companies to create mini applications that can be displayed on Google Maps. These Mapplets contain a variety of information, from housing listings to crime data, and tools like distance measurement, the company said.

Of course, what tickles me about these two approaches is that it looks like Microsoft spent a lot of man hours and technology on creating a virtual world directly from the real one, while Google just sent somebody out with a camera and told them to take a picture every quarter mile or so. Time will tell which system appeals to users more.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 23, 2007

Google to Buy FeedBurner, Source Says

Google has reached an agreement to buy RSS analytics firm and ad network FeedBurner, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told ClickZ News.

The deal would bring a major RSS feed management and measurement solution into Google's product family, which already includes an RSS reader and a free Web site analytics product. FeedBurner manages about 700,000 feeds owned by 400,000 publishers, most of which use the platform to measure user interactions with their feeds and Web sites.

However, while only about 7,500 of those properties, or 1 percent of the firm's total publishers, authorize FeedBurner to sell their ads in its ad network, those sites represent about 75 percent of its audience reach.

U.S. traffic to the FeedBurner site, which is mainly used by bloggers and other site owners to measure their stats, grew by 204 percent between April 2006 and April 2007, according to Hitwise. Traffic to Google's RSS application, Google Reader, has climbed 290 percent in the past four months.

Rumors of the agreement have been floating for a number of weeks, but the companies are now in the final stages of the acquisition. Neither FeedBurner nor Google has yet publicly announced the sale, and neither could immediately be reached for comment.

The value of the deal has been pegged at around $100 million by Sam Sethi, who floated a rumor of the deal on his blog last week, and by TechCrunch, which ran an item about it today.

FeedBurner represents inventory both in feeds and on Web sites, and 90 percent of campaigns running on its network have used both types of ads. FeedBurner reports a 15 percent growth rate per month in the number of feeds it manages.

Posted by Bill McGuire at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

Google to Ban Essay Mill Ads

In a blow to lazy college students worldwide, Google will ban ads from essay-writing services. A BBC report report notes that Google is making the move because the essays "threaten the integrity of university degrees."

The ban, to start next month, prohibits ads for "academic paper-writing services and the sale of pre-written essays, theses, and dissertations," the BBC says.

The sledding won't get too tough for these slackers, however. A quick check of Yahoo and other search engines found an abundance of such ads.

Posted by Bill McGuire at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 15, 2007

Google Video Chief Leaving

Jennifer Feikin, director of Google Video, is leaving the company, Fortune reports. Google Video, met mostly with indifference by users, was made irrelevant, of course, by Google's purchase of YouTube.

Fortune says Feikin, a four-year-veteran at Google, is leaving for new adventures. With Internet video red hot these days, she's likely to have her pick of assignments.

Posted by Bill McGuire at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 11, 2007

Blind Item Guessing Game

Question: Which small ad network with wide reach among blogs is rumored to have been acquired by Google in recent weeks? ClickZ has heard from a reliable source that the companies completed the deal around the time of Google's pact to buy DoubleClick, but delayed announcing it because of widespread alarm about the data ownership implications of that monster deal. Since this match-up raises some similar questions, they're reportedly waiting for the GoogleClick buzz to die down before announcing it.

Post your guesses in the comments or e-mail them in.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 3, 2007

Real Makes Real Profits on Games

Real Networks announced its Q1 earnings yesterday, and stated a 28 percent increase in revenue from games over the first quarter of 2006. The total came to $23.9 million. This revenue comes from casual games played on RealArcade, which are primarily ad-supported. Real partners with Eyeblaster to deliver ads in its Web and player-based games, and began offering revenue shares to developers, in a format similar to Microsoft. Belief whether a revenue-sharing model would benefit developers and publishers was mixed. Clearly it benefits the publishers over a pay-for-play model.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 16, 2007

Up for a Swim?

Want to know the best way to get across the pond? Google Maps will tell you you're in for a long swim. We wanted to find out the best way to get from our SoHo New York office to our parent company's headquarters in London. After driving North toward Boston, direction # 19 says "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean… 3,462 miles." You then make your landing in Fraance and dip back into the water at Calais for a Channel crossing before heading to London. Google delivers the directions with a sly sense of humor. And by the way, Yahoo's maps couldn't navigate the waters, it simply wouldn't recognize my request. Microsoft Live's maps had problems fathoming the distance as well, and suggested destinations like the Haymarket museum in Virginia.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Guess Who's Saying "Antitrust" Now?

Microsoft just issued a statement regarding the antitrust allegations Redmond has lodged against Google in the wake of the latter's acquisition of DoubleClick.

Microsoft SVP and General Counsel Brad Smith says in the release:

“This proposed acquisition raises serious competition and privacy concerns in that it gives the Google DoubleClick combination unprecedented control in the delivery of online advertising, and access to a huge amount of consumer information by tracking what customers do online. We think this merger deserves close scrutiny from regulatory authorities to ensure a competitive online advertising market.”

Update: An organization called NetCompetition.org just came out with a paper criticizing what it calls Google's "imperial ambitions." Entitled "How Google-DoubleClick is Exploiting Antitrust Law's Weak Underbelly to Dominate Internet Advertising" (PDF download), the paper accuses Google of trying to "get rid of potential competitors in a clever manner that will not likely be scrutinized by the Government."

Only this organization sounds even creepier than its accusations against Google. It bills itself as an "e-forum promoting competitive Internet choices for consumers." Its members, however, are comprised largely of a who's who list of the telco and cable giants opposed to net neutrality: Verizon, Comcast, and the like.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

GoogleClick Implications: Big Ad Network Consolidation Around the Corner?

The fur is flying on blogs and news sites about the implications of GoogleClick, DoubleGoo or whatever you want to call it. Here are a few of the big picture questions I'm trying to sort out and get answered:

Will the move trigger a consolidation spree in the ad network space? Microsoft lost a big opportunity when it lost DoubleClick. Buying it would've meant overnight legitimacy in the eyes of the marketing community, myriad established relationships with advertisers and publishers and a budding ad exchange -- in short, the chance to instantly grow an ad network, at Jack-and-the-beanstalk speed, on the scale of Advertising.com, AdSense and Yahoo! Publisher Network. Instead, the ad community woke up this morning with even greater doubts about Redmond's dedication to online advertising in general.

What would make up for it? How about a series of acquisitions of the biggest independent ad networks? If Microsoft bought AdBrite, Tribal Fusion, Specific Media and a few others, it could gain a much-needed boost not only in its saleable inventory but also its credibility. Not only that, but media buyers who feel inundated by ad network options would be grateful.

Everyone's expecting the company, and perhaps AOL and Yahoo as well, to go after the remaining titans of ad management and media sales -- primarily ValueClick, 24/7 Real Media or aQuantive. But there's a ton of traffic passing through the slightly smaller guys' networks. They could be good, and more affordable, acquisition targets.

Yes, the dashboard has arrived. Now the backlash? This is obviously a big moment for the convergence of search and display, which have always been locked at the elbows in terms of their impact on conversions (though their synergy has only lately been proven). But will GoogleClick mean a big step forward for integrated online/offline media management as well? DoubleClick's very recently embraced ad management on digital signage, and Google's broadcast and print initiatives are no secret. How long before marketers can use the same interface to manage ads and read reports on their campaigns in every channel?

On the flip side, how long before marketers and media companies start to feel uncomfortable to have so much of their buy concentrated with one player?

Will Web sites bail on Google? Google, having already conquered search, wants now to be the largest ad network in the world. It's clear that all of DoubleClick's publisher customers are about to be offered the chance to sell ads through AdSense using the DART interface.

The actions of CBS, Viacom, News Corp and NBC and two separate newspaper consortiums have shown the big media ecosystem is profoundly nervous about Google's covetous angling for their online inventory, and is so far showing itself unwilling to play along. But those companies are all relative newcomers to the online media business. What of the pure play online guys? Are they willing to let Google represent new, unprecedented amounts of their inventory? My gut tells me they'll do it if it monetizes better, but I expect some are going to start casting around for a new management partner.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 6, 2007

Bottom Slurping for Google Juice

Is a service affiliated with Google ad man Tim Armstrong helping to fuel Web bottom feeding? OK, maybe I'm blowing it a bit out of proportion, but here's the deal:

Associated Content, co-founded by Armstrong, is essentially a marketplace connecting aspiring writers (students, stay-at-home moms, etc.) with sites that pay them to write content. It's all about optimizing for search.

The "content producers" are taught to write keyword-heavy content, and they're paid according to the amount of traffic their creations will drive. Surprise, surprise -- Associated employs an algorithm that estimates the number of unique visitors that will be driven to that content in coming months, and pays writers upfront accordingly.

I spoke with Associated's Andrew Boer, who told me the firm's content producers are pumping out 2,000 "articles" each day, and there are around 200,000 in the site's library. "Partners," or companies/sites that pay for the rights-managed content, can buy pre-existing stuff or commission new works (the Medicis of affiliate marketing?).

Boer would only name two syndication partners, online retailer eBags, and NoParking.com, a company that offers content development services to its own clients, and appears to be subbing out work to Associated's writer pool. The company runs sites like Automobiles.com, which is apparently supposed to be an antidote to parked domains, those sites affiliate marketing types set up that include little to no content, but lots of ads served by ad networks like Google's AdSense.

"We will gladly assign our expert team of writers and editors to your site to write content that uses keyword analysis and well researched information that will keep your users coming back again and again," says NoParking.com's site. Hmmm….

Automobiles.com may have well optimized content, but after perusing the site, it's obvious it's been set up for the sheer purpose of driving traffic to the sponsored links residing there. Consider the "expert" writing on the "New Car Dealers" page:

New car dealers provide the public with new model cars for sale. New car dealers employ salespersons who work with potential car consumers and arrange financing of that car at a reasonable monthly payment and low percentage rate. New car dealers often accept trade-ins for their new cars to be used as part of a down payment.

It gets better. Here's what I found on the "Power Windows" page:

"HOW MUCH COULD IT POSSIBLY COST TO PUT THE AUTO DOWN AND AUTO UP SWITCH ON ALL FOUR OR TWO WINDOWS??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! C'MON DOES THAT DAMN WINDOW SWITCH COST HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS OR WHAT ??? WHO IS THE MANUFACTURER OF THE SWITCH? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP US UNDERSTAND THIS GREAT MYSTERY?

And let's just pretend that someone calls us back and says the switch costs and extra $500 each... Hahaha Ok so imagine it is too expensive to add this feature to all two windows!! LOL or in the case of the four door sedan or truck, all four windows."

Speechless?

I have no idea whether Associated Content people wrote that copy, but it's an example of the garbage cluttering the Web, driven by affiliate marketing programs and ad networks catering to small site owners.

"We don't really want to become [a service]…for bottom feeding people who want to promote their domains," Boer told me.

Some of the articles I checked out on the Associated Content site could be considered valuable content, but the fact that it's written with search optimization in mind can really degrade the caliber of the writing. Reading keyword phrases over and over, for instance, can be tedious ("New car dealers....New car dealers....New car dealers"). Also, an automated system (articles submitted don't go through a human editorial filter) can't detect incomplete sentences such as, "Xenical, a medication that may help you lose weight by decreasing your body's absorption of fat."

Why would big names in online advertising (Google's VP Advertising and Interactive Advertising Bureau founder Rich LeFurgy) be on the board of "The People's Media Company," as Associated calls itself? Well, the marketing connection is obvious. At least at this point, the content appears to be created with the simple goal of adding Google juice to commercial sites.

The company has introduced a "performance bonus" to pay producers extra cash if their content ends up driving more traffic than originally predicted. According to Boer, content producers get paid an average of $5-7 per article, if the article is purchased.

I guess you get what you pay for.

UPDATE: I want to make clear that the two Automobiles.com examples (New Car Dealers and Power Windows content) were not found on the Associated Content site, and when Boer called me regarding this post earlier this afternoon, he assured me they were not written by Associated producers. Apparently, all Associated Content, when syndicated on other sites will be marked as such.

The reason the Automobiles.com examples were included is because the owner of that site, which provides "content development" services is a client of Associated Content. My goal with this post is to lament the general notion that the Web seems to be turning into one big "Special Advertising Section."

As noted above, Boer, and assumedly others running Associated, do not want to contribute to low grade sites created solely to drive traffic to sponsored links. The thing is, when people are tutored to create "keyword-dense" content, as he told me Associated writers are, there's a good chance it will be purchased with the primary goal of driving search traffic, with a lesser goal of providing value to the reader or consumer. I'm just not sure the Web or its denizens really benefit from content pumped out for the sake of pumping out content.

The day my ClickZ editors tell me to make sure my articles are loaded with keyword phrases is the day the writing suffers, and with it our readers and the state of the Web. Truly valuable content is valuable because of its substance, and that's content that attracts readers and advertisers naturally.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 15, 2007

Google Promises to Randomize Users for Privacy

Google is updating its privacy policy to randomize the information logs it collects whenever a user makes a search. In the past the company held onto the information like query itself, IP addresses and cookie details, for as long as it liked, but now it will remove some of the pertinent details in an effort protect privacy and assuage privacy concerns.

Of course, the company is still going to hang on to all the information for at least 18 to 24 months before it randomizes it. The company made the new policy known through its blog yesterday, and claims it's the result of long discussions with privacy stakeholders in Europe and the U.S., but it's tough not to see the specter of AOL's search log debacle last year looming its head here too. When AOL mistakenly released search logs for over 650,000 users, which didn't even have IP addresses associated with them, users were still identified and AOL was dealt a black eye.

Still, Google is sticking to its guns that their new policy should be seen as positive move by consumers and advertisers alike. When I spoke to Google spokesperson Victoria Grand, she told me "We're adding an additional layer of privacy protection for our users. For advertisers, because trust is the foundation of users using our service, hopefully this means even more users will trust Google."

I'm still wondering if holding onto something for two years is going to make users feel better about their privacy, but at least it's no longer forever.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

Google Audio Ads Beta Will Remove Stains, Cataracts, Extra Inches

Midway through a week of friendly coverage of its print media efforts, Google is stumping for its radio initiative. Over at its Inside AdWords blog, the company says it's looking for a new round of Audio Ads program beta testers after an initial beta trial that's been going well. After inviting new sign-ups, the post goes on to assert that early beta testers love the speed and ease of use of the audio creation process. But something feels off. Is it just me, or is this language, like, totally infomercial-ish?

You might be wondering whether Audio Ads would be a good fit for your business. Instead of hearing it from us, we thought we'd let a current AdWords advertiser, Richard Swezey, do the talking. Richard is the Executive Vice President of Cequal, which created the Bed Lounge. Over the years, Richard had always made a point of exploring different advertising channels.

Enter Swezey, astonishingly on-message (pardon me if I quote in full):

"We thought a lot about how to expand the reach of our message, and radio seemed like a great opportunity – it's a 'main stream America' type of channel, but we had zero experience in it. My impression was it was something for bigger companies, or at least companies with bigger pockets and a bigger appetite for risk. Then we learned about Google Audio Ads and thought 'not only does it address our concerns but we can custom fit it to our budget and marketing goals.' So we decided to take the big plunge into radio. We've been really pleased with the experience.

What a shiny, happy radio ad beta! Hey, it's your blog Google, but this is about as far from conversational media as it's possible to be.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 6, 2007

NewsFlash: Google Reckless on Copyright

Perhaps smelling blood in the wake of recent setbacks rival Google has suffered regarding its infringing use of video and news headlines on YouTube and in Google News Belgium, Microsoft attorney Thomas Rubin is set to go on the attack today at the Association of American Publishers' annual meeting in New York. During a keynote address, Rubin will accuse Google, which hosted its own flashy event for the book publishing industry just last month, of not playing by rules when it comes to trademarks and intellectual ownership.

Well duh. But it's interesting to note how he goes into the advertising implications of Google's track record of disregard for copyright laws.

The speech, which can be read verbatim here, accuses Google of preparing to run ads against book content it doesn't own -- despite the fact that Google has stated it won't do any such thing.

While Google says that it doesn’t currently intend to place ads next to book search results, Google’s broader business model is straightforward -- attract as many users as possible to its site by providing what it considers to be “free” content, then monetize that content by selling ads. I think Pat Schroeder put it best when she said Google has “a hell of a business model – they’re going to take everything you create, for free, and sell advertising around it.

Rubin will urge any publishers persuaded by Google's promise to keep digital copies secure and only display snippets of copy for discovery and promotional purposes to gaze on the copyright landscape over at YouTube. And he'll call out Google's reported practice of assisting advertisers in building keyword packages for pirated music, movies and software. That story was reported last month by The Wall Street Journal.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 1, 2007

Google Seeking a Flock of Boob Tube Sales Staffers

When I read that Google is seeking a head of national TV sales, per AdAge, I swung by the company's job board to read the description. There I stumbled on a half dozen or so TV and audio sales jobs, including a post for an agency sales manager for TV, a bunch of TV account manager and account executive slots, and the all-important national TV sales gig. The latter is looking for someone with "12+ years TV advertising and interactive experience" who can build "a world-class national TV advertising sales team and lead the effort to both sell television solutions and shape a next generation advertising platform."

The challenge Google faces in television is the same it faces in premium online display advertising: the network and cable operators are loath to surrender their direct sales relationships with advertisers and agencies. Give those up and you're handing Big G the farm. Here's hoping all these TV sales folks the company is hiring have inventory to peddle.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 27, 2007

New Google Ads: Gmail Theater

There's a unique video campaign for Gmail running on The Wall Street Journal (ClickZ first noticed it yesterday). Introduced by "Kai, one of the engineers behind Gmail," the ads spin a handful of geeky-cute tales that use puppets made from office supplies to convey the e-mail platform's key features. One interesting thing about the WSJ placement is how it's hosted and tracked. While the unit does have some nice rich media features, including the ability to cycle through several ads and scroll through tips, it's fundamentally a YouTube-enabled widget. That means the videos are publicly hosted on YouTube, and can also be shared or embedded elsewhere on the Web. It's ad trafficking made transparent to the user.

Update: Amit Agarwal wrote in to clarify that this is an AdSense unit. Amit's blog, Digital Inspiration, has a screen grab and notes the YouTube player is 250x200 pixels and is embedded in an AdSense unit that's 300x250 pixels.

RSS readers: click through to see the video.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 16, 2007

Is Google Game?

It's been well reported that Google is in talks to acquire in-game advertising firm Adscape Media. More speculation surfaced today as Greg Sterling's blog Screenwerk points to a Red Herring article that attaches the price of $23 million to the deal.

The story is moving along, but as Google is a public company and can't comment due to regulatory issues, no named sources at either company have been able to confirm the deal. ClickZ reached out to contacts at both Google and Adscape Media which have not yet been returned.

For various reasons, many agree it makes sense for Google to get into in-game advertising, and others affirm the choice of Adscape. Sterling offers Google's general range of "Sub-$20 to $30 million" for most acquisitions. And in a Q&A with in-game ad firm Massive's new CEO Cory Van Arsdale published earlier this week, he Google's interest in in-game advertising makes perfect sense, "Google has made investments to try to expand from Web-based advertising in terms of user experience," he said.

The possibility of Google buying up Adscape or another in-game ad firm makes things interesting for its Redmond-based competitor. Massive calls Microsoft's Xbox unit family, yet tries to keep it at arms length in order to do business with competing console manufacturers. If Google moves into the space, it doesn't have a console shackle which could hold Massive back from certain deals.

The Red Herring cites a source saying "an Adscape acquisition gives Google little beyond a few potentially interesting patents," which is a good point. When I spoke to Adscape late last summer, Adscape's VP of marketing Eva Woo discussed an in-game ad unit that behaved a little differently than typical in-game ads, but at the time Adscape was in the process of getting the unit into games. Still, the company has a product, and an experienced staff drawing from the game industry and has Bernie Stolar as its chairman.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 12, 2007

Be It Radio or Web sites, Google is Still a Remnant Buy

Most radio types think of Google's Audio Ads platform as a remnant ad buying mechanism, plain and simple. And so it is. The same is true with AdSense, where advertisers are skeptical and resistant to the company's aggressive bids for their brand advertising budgets. There are a number of reasons for that, one of the largest being that Google won't let them traffic their ads through third party platforms like DoubleClick.

A New York Times story breaks down the challenges facing the firm's radio plans, hitting on the remnant issue and the recent departures of dMarc's founders. Another issue is that the radio business is heavily dependent on phone calls. Take out the human factor and inventory commoditization naturally follows.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 9, 2007

dMarc Founders Exit Google

Chad and Ryan Steelberg, the founders of dMarc broadcasting, acquired only a year ago by Google, have moved on.

Google issued a brief statement emphasizing its ongoing commitment to "the audio business."

"We will continue to gather feedback during the Audio Ads beta test and are happy with the progress to date," the statement said. "We remain focused on delivering value to the radio industry as we continue to expand radio station inventory and enhance the product so that it's ready for all advertisers."

The news was first reported by PaidContent yesterday.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 19, 2007

Vertical Search Auctions on Portals Coming Soon?

Will keyword bidding on Yahoo and MSN -- the search players with portals -- soon be carved into optional, more expensive vertical niches? It appears so.

At a lunch Yahoo threw this week to announce its new personal finance section , I asked a number of Yahoo executives if they'd considered a marketplace in which, say, a financial advertiser could bid for two tiers of keywords: one on Yahoo Search, and another higher bid for contextual search ads appearing only on search results within the personal finance section.

"It's certainly something we looked at," said Tanya Singer, director of product development, who spearheaded the project.

That amounts almost to a confession. With the recent introduction of Panama on the Yahoo side, and upgrades scheduled for MSN's auctionplace interface, the content portals would have to be nuts not to consider enabling more vertical SEM buys.

Google's not a portal, but it could certainly play along with buys aimed at specific sections such as Book Search or local, though that's a mushier landscape given the precision to which a local buy can already be targeted.

The end effect would be more targeted advertising, to be sure. But also more complicated search advertising, which only the more sophisticated clients are ready for. SEMs would also have to rush to tweak their proprietary bid management and metrics applications.

Still, it seems the move is inevitable. The only question is, when? Yahoo's promised to get back to me on this.

I'll keep you posted.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 4, 2007

Paid Clicks: What's in the Sausage?

The season of Web marketing food analogies continues.

If you're following the click fraud debate, you should have a look at The Sausage Manifesto, a minor treatise on click fraud addressed to the big PPC networks. Written by Jeffrey Rohrs, president and chief strategist for Optiem, the piece is constructed as an open letter from Web advertisers to Google, Yahoo and others, whom it contends are not vested in eliminating the problem and therefore choose not to acknowledge its scope. Rohr makes several requests to the PPC networks, including "Talk, Don't Lecture" and "Light a Fire Under the IAB."

Following the sausage trail, Search Engine Watch yesterday reached out to Shuman Ghosemajumder, who heads click quality at Google, to get his response to the manifesto. That post is also worth a read.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 2, 2007

Google Hiring for YouTube Sales in Six Cities

Jon Fine observes that Google is posting classified ads seeking sales executives for YouTube. One Mediabistro listing for a Boston-area account executive describes the ideal candidate as one able to "drive revenue for the YouTube business unit and consult with brand advertisers and interactive agencies on how to leverage the YouTube platform and participate in the YouTube community."

No big departure here from YouTube's pre-acquisition focus. Fine reports full time sales positions are being filled in New York, Dallas, Detroit, Boston, Chicago and San Bruno, Ca.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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