Or rather, Quigo has always done it the sensible way, and Google has finally realised that "Google moves in mysterious ways" will not keep folk happy forever.
From Google's Adwords blog:
Of course there's the possibility that Google bids $100 on every keyword, which is not an algorithm change or special button, but rather because doing so effectively costs them very little, if anything.
...the fact that Google advertises its own products or services using AdWords
... there are no special buttons to push or levers to pull that give our internal account managers special treatment or leverage. Quality Score is automatically evaluated in the same way for our keywords as it is for any advertiser's keywords. Likewise, the potential to show up in the top spots above the search results is the same for Google's ads as it is for any other. We rely on the AdWords system to let relevancy and usefulness to our users be the driving force behind our ad placement.
....there are no algorithm changes to 'smooth the way' for Google's ads -- and the accounts of 'competing' advertisers (should there be any for particular keywords or Ad Groups) are never referenced in any way.
The whisper is that Google is signing up Fortune 1000 companies to provide their ad space to Google at a fixed CPM rate, which Google will use to display ads from their network. This sounds like some companies want more than the 55/45 revenue sharing model that AdSense offers, and Google knows that even at 90/10 they's still make money from major sites.
New to Google Checkout are some major merchants: Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us, Computer World, Linens 'n Things, PETCO, and J&R Music and Golfsmith.
This means that the creator of a feed can find out how many, if any, people are reading their stuff. Congrats to Google for letting us know the great difficulties they overcame to provide this service:
...with all the products that use feeds at Google, corralling the data in one place was like herding cats. So herd we did, and as of today, our crawler reports the number of Google users subscribed to the feed.
That's per user. The difference between the free and paid versions, according to the official page, are:
Go look at this mock-up of what Google's services would look like with a Yahoo-style home page. At the very least Google should offer something like this for those who like it. Heck, why not offer 20 different home pages, so that everyone gets one they like?
Fair enough too. Anyone that proudly boasts that they are "reverse engineering" the product of a major corporation and giving away secrets for free should expect trouble. If the intention was to get a good job somewhere, then smart move! More here...
Google has issued an apology to AdWords customers, some of whom may have found that some keywords were erroneously given higher minimum bids. The result of this is that either:
"Our engineers have been working tirelessly to understand why this issue occurred and to ensure that the proper measures are in place so that this is not repeated in the future."(read it carefully - it doesn't say they have fixed it)They have also promised to contact everyone that was affected:
"Once we have completed our analysis of the impact, we'll automatically issue credits to advertisers who overpaid due to this issue. As soon as these credits have been applied, we'll email the affected advertisers to let them know."It would not surprise me if, in a few weeks time, they issue a new statement saying "a small number of affected customers have not been able to be identified - if you think it was you, please contact us..."
A little-known service exists, called Google Mobile. Instead of paying to find out someone's number, Google will tell you for free! Just send a text message to 46645 (GOOGL). In the message provide the name of the person/business, or just the type of business (taxidermist), and the zip code or city & state. In a few seconds, Google will text you back with the result.
"Google SMS works on all major mobile providers in the US, including Alltel, Cincinnati Bell, Cingular/AT&T, Nextel, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Virgin Mobile."
Rather than relying on the mass of free publicity their PR dept creates, it's nice to see Google employing other means, like this video promotion for GMail that has a lot of fans
According to business publication Red Herring, Google has reached an agreement to purchase Adscape Media for a cool $23 million.More here. Maybe soon AdWords customers can place their ads within videogames!
Adscape, a company that officially launched in February of last year, hasn't firmly established its position in the in-game advertising market and the company has not gotten the kind of attention that Massive, IGA or Double Fusion have received, but what Adscape does give Google is some interesting technology patents. And with Google's vast resources, the company could no doubt leverage the in-game ad tech to eventually gain a solid foothold in the space.
Official: we have always been able to pause ad groups, and now individual keywords within them can also be paused. This is great news, because until now the only choice was deleting them, and if you put a deleted keyword back in, it has lost all of its history.
The criteria seems pretty reasonable. Yahoo are at #44. I guess Google has a big advantage in that everyone who works there is doing because they want to, rather than have to. Plus many are rich now, which no doubt helps them feel happy with their lot.
Presumably due to the merging of two images taken at different times, this picture of a train "uncloaking" is yet another example of the fun to be had at Google Earth
Google lost a copyright lawsuit to Belgian newspapers that had demanded it remove headlines and links to articles posted on its news site without their permission.More...
"Google is reproducing and publishing works protected by copyright," [the court] said. "Google cannot call on any exceptions set out by law relating to copyright or similar rights."
It decided in favor of Copiepresse, a copyright protection group representing 17 mostly French-language newspapers that complained the search engine's "cached" links offered free access to archived articles that the papers usually sell.
Gumby, My Favorite Martian, I Spy, Daniel Boone, & The Invisible Man. All for free - on YouTube, with the company holding the rights getting a share of ad revenue. Gumby is perfect, for it is short, and very hip, and teens (and me) will want to watch it.
It sounds like they bought into the Google Dream, but after just 1 year they are unhappy at not being as rich as they though they'd be:
Google bought dMarc for $102 million in cash plus the possibility of further payouts totaling up to $1.13 billion, if certain revenue targets were met. But last week, Valleywag.com, a blog covering Silicon Valley businesses, reported that a source close to dMarc said management and investors were unlikely to get more than $200 million under the terms of the deal.Or maybe they only promised to stay for a year, and have now gone on a 40 year vacation!
Aiming at Microsoft, but without the same level of functionality, or breadth of products, Google Apps - Corporate Version will be for corporations who are willing to pay a subscription fee of a few dollars per person per month.
I can't believe it has taken so long, but now the rest of the world can get a GMail account without someone inviting them. Why the delay? If they needed more servers, they can just buy them. Strange.
Google has championed FireFox for quite some time now, and seeing new ads for it on their home page is not a surprise. What is surprising is that there have also been ads promoting IE7 (with Google's toolbar pre-installed, naturally). Is this just seasonal generosity?
Until Feb 15, first-time shoppers who use Google Checkout will recieve $10 off (you must spend at least $10, but if you spend exactly $10 it will be free!).
The link: command in Google only shows a small fraction of backward links that Google knows about, meaning that SEOers prefer to use Yahoo's SiteExplorer to find backlinks.
100,000 videos that is (which by my reckoning means over one hundred a day are being uploaded, with nothing to stop them).
GMail is now a non-Google brand in the UK and Germany. In those countries it is known as GoogleMail. They have been accused of bullying and aggression...
"The decision of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market not to have the Gmail trademark registered on a pan-European basis will have no effect on the current use of the Gmail trademark in Europe," said a Google spokeswoman."
Images will either be blurred or camouflaged or distorted. Makes sense, should happen for every country, without that country having to complain publicly, as India did last year...
Official sources said Google Earth would distort building plans by adding structures where none existed or masking certain aspects of a facility. This could be done without attracting attention to such establishments, which range from laboratories, mines, military sites, space and atomic centres and residences of high-profile VVIPs.
Ever wanted to transform your keyword list, by adding Exact and Phrase for each keyword automatically? Check out this free online tool...
