Tag archives: google

Opinions on AdSense image ads

At the end of April Google’s AdSense program started serving graphic banners in addition to the sponsored links service. Furthermore, AdSense advertisers now have the possibility to select the sites where they want their contextual ads to be served. Le Journal du Net (in French) has interviewed some French marketers to find out what they think about the new services.

Read more…

File under: adsense, google, image ads, opinions

There is life beyond Google

According to Nielsen//Netratings Google is the leader among search engines, but users have started using other major engines also. A new research (opens .pdf) only a small number of users use only one search engines. Nielsen//Netrating explains that 58 percent of Google searchers also visited at least one of the other top two search engines, MSN Search and Yahoo! Search, showing that even though Google’s market share is dominant today, there is significant opportunity for its competitors to grow.

File under: google, msn search, search engines, Yahoo!

AdWords and clicks’ frauds

The issue is hot, even if players in the industry try to hide its relevance. Financial Times writes today that companies advertising on the Google keyword search engine are becoming increasingly concerned about the practice of “click fraud”. The problem isn’t new (see Adverblog, Sept. 29) and the pressure on Google (and Overture) is growing, since more and more companies are seeing their daily advertising budget vanishing in a few hours. Oscar Jenkins, chief executive of Dynmark, a company that sells bulk text messaging services says about PPC advertising:

“When it works, it works really well. But the whole system is based on underlying honesty. Once that is undermined, the whole thing falls apart like a house of cards.”

File under: google, ppc frauds, stolen clicks

Google’s plans for the future

On Editor & Publisher Carl Sullivan presents an interview with Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Five questions and five answers to talk about online contextual advertising with a specific look at how the newspaper industry is taking advantage of this solution.

File under: adsense, contextual ads, google

Google and the future of content targeting

Last week Google knocked out another competitor by acquiring Sprinks online advertising network. On CNET News.com Stefanie Olsen analyses Google’s present and future business strategies. Content-targeting ads still need to be improved: according to Forrester Research, response rates to content-targeted ads are about one-fifth that of search-related ads.

File under: Content targeting, contextual advertising, google

Don’t Ask Jeeves, ask someone else…

Net imperative reports that Internet search firm Ask Jeeves has decided to drop “Jeeves” the butler from its latest US advertising campaign, prompting speculation that the company’s image is to be revamped without him. The cartoon butler will not completely disappear, but it will be somehow kept hidden in order to increase people curiosity to find out what happend to it. A strange idea, I’m not sure how much people will care of a cartoon… The new Ask.com web site has also a fresher “look & feel”, and it’s designed to compete against Google… Good luck

File under: ask jeeves, butler, cartoon, google

The ads that will affect your life

Google will provide target advertising and web search to Weather.com. The news is reported in a press release on Biz Yahoo!. I’m always astonished by reading the high-sounding declarations that usually come with these business deals, and Weather.com makes no exception by saying through Joe Fiveash, senior vice president of Product and Business Development:

“Weather.com wants to present our users with information that is the most relevant to them. By adding Google’s search services, we make finding information about any topic just as easy as finding out how the weather will affect your life.”

Wow, these guys are soooo nice to users, they really care about them and their life… Please, don’t forget business is… business, not charity!

File under: ads, deals, google, weather.com

Self-service for contextual advertising

In the Search Engine War, Google makes a move announcing AdSense, a new self-service program for publishers to serve up its contextual advertising. The opinion of Susan Wojcicki, director of products at Google is quoted by Brian Morrisey on IAR:

We think that this program, can fundamentally change the economics of content creation. It will allow content creators to focus on creating the content and not on selling ads.”

File under: contextual advertising, google