It’s a Google World

            What quickly became the world’s largest and most successful search engine is also responsible for introducing innovative online advertising strategies.  In 1998 two computer science graduates from Stanford University founded Google Inc.  Larry Page and Sergey Brin devised a way to access and organize the infinite amounts of information available on the internet and give users a way to find what they need.  While the company itself, in practice and profits, is unique and successful, the company’s contribution to the advertising industry is also impressive.  They are responsible for AdSense, content-targeted advertising, and in 2000, the duo released AdWords, a self-service advertising program.

            A good portion of Google’s revenues come from advertisers, but since the company’s service is based on fast and effective searches, graphics-heavy banner ads that take a long to load were not the way to go.  “By eschewing banner ads, Google is left to lure advertisers with old-fashioned sponsored text links and text boxes targeted by keyword searches.  ‘Our site is so focused on delivering high-quality search results, we wanted to make sure the advertising is in tune with that,’” says Omid Kordestani who is the VP sales and business development for Google (Riedman, 2000).

            AdWords helped Google target smaller advertisers by allowing clients to create their own ads and use Google as a place to show them.  Clients could also create their own budget so small local businesses could also benefit from the program.  Advertisers choose keywords related to their business, when users search on Google and a keyword is used the advertisement is displayed next to the search results.

Keywords are what people search for on Google.

The ad appears beside relevant search results.

This made advertising efforts more effective by only displaying advertisements to users who may be interested and placed advertisements in high-traffic areas.  The keyword-search ads were also efficient for clients who didn’t have to pay just to have the ad displayed with no benefit, but only paid when consumers actually clicked the ad link.  The AdWords program even helps clients make their own webpage for free so even the smallest of businesses can provide information to consumers.  This kind of advertising has become the primary money-maker for search engines.

            AdSense, released as another self-service product from Google in 2003, is another innovative technique Google uses to connect advertisers with consumers.  AdSense automatically crawls the content of web pages and delivers text and image ads that are relevant to the site’s content.  Google technology matches the most relevant and highest performing AdWords ads to website content and the website owner can make money by allowing the ads to be displayed.  Google essentially becomes the middle man and links AdWord advertisers to other outlets for reaching consumers on the web.  This system works extremely well considering Google’s extensive online partnerships.

Google advertising network includes:

            With the advent of the iPhone and G1 people now carry advertisements right in their pockets.  Google has added the option for AdWord clients to also have their ads shown on phones with full web browsers.  Mobile AdWords allows advertisers to evolve as current technology trends change; more and more consumers are accessing the web through handheld personal devices rather than conventional desktop computers.

            Google has paved the way for the online advertising boom.  The techniques and strategies created by Google have been used by other search engines and websites and the company’s innovative spirit has spurred other developments in the industry.  One such example is “Promoted Videos” on YouTube.  “Think of them as AdWords for YouTube. They run alongside regular video search results and allow publishers to promote their content. Similar to AdWords, they are bought on a cost-per-click basis,” (Sullivan, 2008).  YouTube also has click-to-buy links below some videos allowing people to buy songs, books, movies and other products related to the videos they're viewing. This even generates some revenue for Google who sponsor the plan (Sullivan, 2008).

            Google remains successful and optimistic as advertising revenues and growth rates for the company continue to increase.

  Google has Research & Development and Beta Departments to keep the company at the forefront of new technology and strategy.  Google is even coming up with new outlets for ad placement, they have even started using banner ads on Google Image search in addition to AdWords.  On Google Maps, advertisements are displayed right below the maps and include restaurant and hotel listings related to the places being searched.  Google is a company always looking for new opportunity and growth according to CEO Eric Schmidt, "As we integrate DoubleClick into our advertising platform, we see exciting new ways to improve the user experience and increase value for our advertisers and partners.  Also, while exercising operational

discipline, we continue to explore opportunities that add value to users everywhere and to Google in the long term," (Google, 2008).  With programs and services in over 70 languages, including Klingon, and new programs like Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, Google Inc. remains the front-runner in

 search engine marketing.

Works Cited

Google Inc.  (2009). About Google.  Google Inc.  Retrieved from http://www.google.ca/about.html.

Google Inc.  (2008, November 12).  Fincial tables.  Google Inc.  Retrieved from http://investor.google.com/fin_data.html.

Google Inc.  (2008, April 17).  Financial release.  Google Inc.  Retrieved from http://investor.google.com/releases/2008Q1_google_earnings.html.

Hof, R.  (2008, December).  Google’s search advertising going mobile on iPhone, T-Mobile G1.  Business Week Tech Beat blog.  Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/12/googles_search.html.

Riedman, P.  (2000, November 6).  Making Google grow.  Advertising Age, 71(46), 48-49.

Sullivan, D.  (2008, October 27).  Google gives marketers more places to put ads.  Advertising Age 79(40), 23.