Google to begin sharing URLs where AdWords advertiser's ads are being run

The New York Times ran an article about Quigo, a contextual advertising company that targets premium sized publishers. In the story, comments from both Yahoo & Google were included. But one quote by Kim Malone, director of online sales and operations for Google AdSense, jumped out... the fact that Google will begin listing all publisher websites where AdWords advertiser's ads are being run.

In response to further questions about Quigo, though, Google said it was prepared to make changes to its AdSense service that mimicked Quigo’s approach, an unusual step for a company accustomed to mapping the terrain in every aspect of its business.

In the next few months, Google’s advertiser reports will begin listing the sites where each ad runs, Ms. Malone said. She added that advertisers on the Google networks would soon be able to bid on contextual ads on particular Web sites rather than simply buying keywords that appeared across Google’s entire network.

Still, Ms. Malone said she did not see much of consequence coming from the changes. “We don’t expect a lot of demand for that placement targeting,” she said. “It’s the brand, the display advertisers who care where they run.”

This is something I have pushed for for quite some time, although not from the point of view of seeking out specific sites. Rather, this tool could be extremely useful for advertisers wanting to opt-in to the content network, but not having the time to go log hunting to see what URLs their ads are running on in the content network... URLs which are always disguised in nasty long URLs.

There was a comment Kim made that didn't make sense to me. She stated that advertisers will soon be able to bid on contextual ad placements on specific sites, however this has been available with a CPM pricing model for quite some time, and as a CPC model more recently.

So from an advertiser perspective, what does this mean? This means that opting into the content network while having the transparency of knowing where your ads of being displayed just got easier. You will now be able to easily filter any URLs you don't want your ads showing up on (such as for competitive or quality reasons) without having to opt-out of the entire network.

From a publisher perspective, if you have good quality sites in the content network, you have nothing to worry about and a lot to gain. If you have sites that are less-than-stellar, the kinds of sites that advertisers wouldn't be so happy that their ads are appearing on, you might want to worry, or improve the quality of those sites ;)

by Jennifer Slegg

Google Launches Free 411 Service

Google threw a new product called Goog-411 into Google Labs today - a free telephone based information service that could replace toll 411 calls. About 2.6 billion 411 calls are made in the U.S. each year, and it is a $7 billion/year market.

Goog-411 can be accessed by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411. The product is completely automated and there is no way to talk to a human for additional or clarifying information. You tell it your city and state, and then ask for a specific business or business category. In my tests the product was excellent. Although the voice recognition was only working at about 70% efficiency, I just said “back” and retried when it didn’t understand what I said. Results are spoken back or text messaged back to you, and you are automatically put through to the phone number requested.

GOOG-411 is using Google’s normal local business information available on Google Maps and elsewhere. Businesses that want to add or correct data can do so here.

The product competes head on with Jingle Networks, which has taken 6% market share in the U.S. 411 business over the last year. AT&T is also experimenting with free 411 calls. None of these products come anywhere close to as good as TellMe’s rich client business information tool for mobile phones, but few phones support TellMe at this time (TellMe was recently acquired by Microsoft).

The paid 411 market is so dead. I’m betting these free alternatives take at least 50% market share within a couple of years.

Update: This is actually a product that Google’s been testing in various formats for some time. Steve Poland (a regular contributor here) is pointing me to some posts (and here) by Greg Sterling from last year that discuss this. The earliest reports on this are from October 2006, and the service may be from an acquisition of 1-877-520-FIND. More information here.

by http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/06/google-launches-free-411-business/