Google and Yahoo Get Pushy with Ads

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 17 Mar 2009

Following our report on how Google is focusing on “interest-based” advertising, we have more news to repot upon from the online advertising field. Mountain View search engine giant has rolled out ads on the Picasa photo-sharing site and on hosted news sites. On the upside, Google has also announced that a total of 8 news agencies have joined Google’s Hosted News partners. Over in the Yahoo camp, the Santa Clara company has announced the availability of three new means of enhancing targeted adds.

Starting with Picasa, it must be said that the photo-sharing site now displays text ads. According to Google, this feature has not been rolled out to every user out there, just to some US-based Picasa Web Albums users. The Mountain View search engine giant reaffirmed its belief that ads are a good source of information – info on what you would like to purchase that is.

Speaking of information, there is no denying that Google News is a good place to start your search for the latest info on what is going on in the world. That functionality has now received a boost in the right direction because 8 news agencies, all members of the European Press Agency, have decided to join the Google camp.

Business Product Manager, Josh Cohen explains: “As with our existing agreements, these new partnerships will enable us to host and distribute EPA's original newswire content on Google News, highlighting the original contributions of even more newswire journalists providing you with access to stories right from the source. We hope to make EPA's content (which will also include ads) available in the coming months.”

Just as with Picasa Web Albums, hosted news articles now feature Google ads. Josh Cohen again: “For some time we've been experimenting with a variety of ads on Google News. Our goal with all these programs is to provide the best experience for users, advertisers and publishers. You've already seen some examples such as ads in search results for news and ads in videos from our YouTube partners. Starting today, you'll also begin to see ads alongside full text articles that we host on Google News. That means that when you click on a Hosted News article, in addition to photographs, maps, and related stories, you'll also see contextually relevant ads underneath the main story text.”

Not to be outdone or miss out on precious ad revenues, Yahoo has also tweaked its search marketing advertising solution and has fitted it with three new targeting solutions: demographic targeting, ad scheduling and enhanced ZIP-level geo-targeting.

“We try not to oversell the changes we make to Sponsored Search — sometimes a button is just a button, after all. So, we hope you’ll pay attention when we tell you this: the new targeting features we’re adding right now are kind of a big deal. Starting now, you’ll be able to target the audiences you want, when and where you want them, with a lot more control,” explains Yahoo Search Marketing Blog editor, Jeff Sweat.


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