Category: Google

Google: Cash, not Quality, Redefines Top Paid Search Placement

As Google changes its policies so it can dramatically broaden its reach for advertisers, esp. the ones with the deepest marketing pockets, it’s key to understand what it means for the future of democratically distributed content. We believe Google’s recent change to its “top rank” formula for paid search ads is important to note. One day, “quality” can be a parameter is helping define what sites show up first; the next, as it works to generate greater revenues, it’s who can pay the most. Here are key excerpts from a two-part story on ClickZ: [my italics] “The change is to the formula used to calculate whether Google gives the advertiser (and specifically, the ad) top placement. Top slots are defined as the slots above the organic results, as opposed to ads shown down the right rail…What changed is the formula Google uses to decide whether to show your ad in the top portion of the page or leave it in the right rail. To have an ad considered for top placement, you need a minimum Quality Score…Assuming you have a sufficiently high Quality Score, the new formula uses a combination of maximum bid and Quality Score to determine eligibility subject to a new minimum price for top placement set by Google.

This allows Google to decide, on a keyword-by-keyword and SERP-by-SERP basis, how much it wants to earn for the top spots. The minimum bid price for top positions is undisclosed and subject to change.” [blog note: SERP is the search engine results page]

The search function has become an important part of democratic media. Keeping the leading search engine accountable and transparent—let alone ensuring competition and meaningful access for diverse information—is key. All of the major search engines, btw, inc. Yahoo! and MSN, require serious public interest scrutiny.

Google’s Ad Industry-related Job Openings: help us become the “definitive source of marketing intelligence”

These three job announcements from Google are too good to ignore. They say a lot about where Google–and global society–are headed. I’ve excerpted from the complete ad (but links are there if you want to apply!). Take a look esp. at # 2.:

1. “The role: Industry Marketing Manager, Advertising Agencies – New York

As an Industry Marketing Manager in Industry Development, you’ll establish and build marketing strategies and tactics for Advertising Agencies. This involves positioning and tailoring Google products to the Advertising Agencies Vertical, staying current with consumer and industry trends, developing a reputation as a thought leader, contributing to effective collateral and interactive presentations, and working with Research on identifying your sector’s needs, contributing to the custom research scope and packaging the results. Expertise in the Ad Agencies Vertical is preferred…

Responsibilities:

  • Create and execute strategic marketing plans and programs to support Google’s advertising sales efforts in search, display, TV, audio, print, online video and commerce…”

2. “Consumer Advertising Insights Director… As the Consumer Advertising Insights Director, you will develop and grow our existing team of consumer and industry research analysts. Working with stakeholders across functions here at Google, you will drive the overall advertising research business strategy. Your team will be responsible for developing external communication frameworks for proprietary insights, primary research roadmaps, and secondary research programs. Working with the world’s leading marketers, your team will provide actionable marketing insights across industries, brands, and customers, informing the very marketing decisions that get executed through Google and beyond.

Key responsibilities will include demonstrating the value of Google as a brand-building platform, providing unique insights into consumer perception, behavior, and attitudes around the brands we are building, and managing relationships with vendors and clients. This role will provide the opportunity to work side-by-side with Google’s sales organization to provide subject matter expertise for our customers’ marketing and consumer research functions.

Responsibilities:

  • Establish Google as the definitive source of marketing intelligence.
  • Produce actionable and industry-leading insights around consumer web behavior.
  • Assess online advertising effectiveness and manage related programs.
  • Develop correlations between online and offline media and become an intelligent broker of media mix solutions, by client, industry, and marketing objective.
  • Analyze consumer web behavior for macro insights and trends.
  • Develop new industry intelligence by conducting independent primary research studies.
  • Partner with leading think-tanks (industry groups, academia, consulting firms).”

3. “The role: Industry Marketing Manager, Brand Advertising Solutions

The Industry Marketing Manager for Brand Advertising Solutions will work to define and execute marketing programs that help drive advertiser adoption of Google’s online display and video advertising solutions. With the rapid evolution of the online advertising landscape, and Google as the leading innovator in that market, this role will be at the center of much industry change. You’ll work closely with both Google and YouTube sales management on marketing programs that educate and influence the world’s largest advertisers and ad agencies. You’re an outstanding writer, an excellent communicator and a team leader. You also have the ability to create effective, interactive presentations and deliver them in front of large groups. Your thought leadership, excellent client-servicing and relationship skills, and entrepreneurship allow you to make persuasive presentations in front of new and existing customers.

Responsibilities:

  • Create and execute strategic marketing plans and programs to support Google’s advertising sales efforts, with focus on YouTube ads and online display ads.
  • Analyze data, trends and client performance, contribute to solid strategic sales plans, and prepare research and data for presentations the Sales team will use.
  • Create marketing materials such as case studies, thought-leadership pieces, client presentations, executive presentations, videos, media kits and white papers.
  • Provide insights and case studies that promote Google’s advertising platforms in your proposals.
  • Develop event strategy and drive your sector’s visibility by speaking at industry events and interacting with the media.”

Google and Yahoo! Among Largest Donors of Ad Council

In a full-page ad in today’s New York Times “Week in Review” section, the Ad Council lists its `who’s who’ of media and big brand donors. Atop its list is the “President’s Circle,” those select few who donated $150k and up. Google and Yahoo! joined Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Time Warner and the board and staff of the Ad Council itself in that select donor category. In comparison, CBS, Coca-Cola and Microsoft was listed below in the Council’s “Leadership Circle,” donating anywhere from $100K-149K [“Bronze Class” donors, the lowest category of those giving between $1K and $4,999 included media companies Bonneville International, Media General, and the Hallmark Channel].

Google also serves on the Ad Council’s board of directors, working alongside many of the global heavyweights in marketing and media, including Publicis, McDonald’s, DDB Worldwide, and the New York Times. Despite its rhetoric as an organization dedicated to public service, the Ad Council is really part of the marketing industries political support system. While there are many in the ad business who sincerely do care about the public interest, the Council isn’t ultimately about supporting real change. Certainly nothing which would seriously challenge the role marketing and advertising plays in contributing to inequities in our global culture.

mp3 speakers 256mbprice 2best levitracdma qualcomm 3g ringtone64kbps mp3 informationcredit adjudicate opm issuessouthern mp3 403 crosslevitra 171 b b 119law colorado gambling 1972 Map

Video Ads Likely to Appear on Searches from Google

The evolution of Google from a system designed to provide the public with information into a full-blown data–collection broadband video platform promoting the interests of brands and marketers will make a very good Ph.D. thesis (we think Stanford would be a great place to write it up!). Here’s an excerpt from today’s Online Media Daily entitled: Google Considers Video for Search Listings:

Sundar Pichai, Google’s director of product management, and Nicholas Fox, Google’s group business product manager, addressed the possibility of bundling image or video ads into Google’s Universal Search. The discussion took place Thursday at the Citigroup Technology Conference in New York.

Fox says integrating video or image ads into sponsored search results is an option that has come up in internal discussions, since search ads are there to give users information that is most relevant to their query. “In many cases that’s a text ad,” Fox says. “In some cases, it may be an image, a video, or something else…” He gives the example of a local butcher: A video with shots of fresh meat and the overall store experience would be more enticing than a 10-word text ad. More value is provided to both the consumer and advertiser. Currently there is more thinking than action around the issue at Mountain View, and for potential experiments, Google will proceed “cautiously and slowly,” Fox says.

According to Pichai…[A]ny steps Google makes will have to be “incremental and evolutionary.”

source: “Google Considers Video for Search Listings.” Tameka Lee. Online Media Daily. September 7, 2007

Yahoo! Swallows Blue Lithium to Expand its Behavioral Targeting Effort

The ever-growing consolidation of control in the online ad market continues (something CDD and USPIRG warned the FTC about in Nov. 2006). Yesterday, Yahoo! acquired ad network and behavioral targeting firm Blue Lithium. The deal is part of the spate of $30b or so mergers [Ad Age. sub. may be required] and acquisitions in the ad marketplace we’ve witnessed just in the first half of 2007. There have been major deals by Google [Doubleclick], Microsoft [aQuantive], Time Warner’s AOL [Third Screen Media, Tacoda], WPP [24/7] and Yahoo! itself (RightMedia]. These deals are a major threat to privacy. Here’s what Yahoo!’s Jerry Yang said in announcing the deal:

“This acquisition will extend our ability to deliver powerful data analytics, advanced targeting and innovative media buying strategies to our customers, who are increasingly looking for these insights. By leveraging BlueLithium’s complementary expertise and tools, we will be able to better address the needs of our performance-based display advertisers and enhance the value of our publishers’ inventory.”

Blue Lithium adds to Yahoo!’s BT data-collecting and targeting arsenal ( it recently launched the perversely termed “smart ads” effort). It’s newly acquired online ad exchange–RightMedia–also offers behavioral targeting. There is a tremendous explosion going on in terms of data collection, profiling, etc. from online marketers. It’s not–as Yahoo! lamely claims–about seeing an ad for Las Vegas instead of Paris if you want to get married in Nevada. It’s about commercial surveillance and the manipulation of the public.

PS: Paidcontent.org pointed out this comment on Yahoo!s corporate blog, which shows you their partners and reach:
“By acquiring BlueLithium, we’ll be accelerating our advertiser, product, and engineering roadmaps and will be in position to better compete in the burgeoning performance marketing arena.

This is the logical next step as we build what we believe will be one of the world’s leading online display ad networks, which includes inventory on Yahoo!’s owned and operated properties, our affiliate network (our partnerships with eBay, Comcast, and our consortium of nearly 400 newspapers), the Yahoo! Publisher Network, and the Right Media Exchange.”

Stat on Blue Lithium via DM News:  “According to comScore Media Metrix, BlueLithium is the fifth largest ad network in the United States and second largest in the UK with 145 million unique visitors each month.”

a7la zahra mp340hz mp3 grondtonenmp3 kassai gabriella dr 8amp3 aamir khan98se recognize mp3mp3 monsters real aaahhaaja mp3 aajaoyster godzilla blue cult mp3 1977 Map

What Should Google, Yahoo, MSN, IAC et. al do about the mortgage mess: Change their ad-selling ways

The search engines must review their policies accepting mortgage and financial ads related to consumer credit. Companies such as Interactive Corp.–which own both a search engine and a financial services company (in this case Ask and LendingTree.com)–also must re-examine how they conduct their business promoting mortgages and other credit. It’s all too easy for search engines to say, we just are selling the ads. But the financial sector, notes clickz, accounts for around 17% of the online ad market. There is a national tragedy here for many Americans, and the online ad industry has to own up to its role. Search engines need to do a better job investigating these companies to make sure they are offering financial services that are fair and not morally usurious. Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and major online platforms–especially those that allowed such ads to run– should also support national legislation aiding those Americans who now find themselves facing eviction. The online ad industry should voluntarily create a bail-out fund as well, returning some of its profits it earned.

Where is the moral leadership in the online ad industry? Which CEO at what search engine, ad industry trade group, or online financial marketer will stand-up and say: we must do better.

PS: It’s worth reading clickz’s Anna Maria Virzi’s piece published today on “What Does the Mortgage Meltdown Mean for Online Advertising?” Especially the last few grafs.

PPS: Here’s a perceptive analysis from Feb. 2007 on the role of Google, Yahoo!, etc and online mortgage ads [excerpt]: “As you are aware, Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) have cashed in big time from the mortgage boom. Direct lenders, conventional banks and lead aggregators like Lending Tree, Nextag and LowerMyBills.com have all paid top dollar to drive online traffic to their site. Keywords like “mortgage” and “refinance” have gone for as high as $20 to $30 per click during peak times…Mortgage companies…have all been heavy contributors to Google’s coffers. Yahoo too, but not as much as Google.”

solutions gambling adolescentmp3 archives rpm record 78gamble ex32 84competition addicting gamblingchristian mp3 86 project1st gambling century256 mp3 rio calidavidson nc st 212 gamble Map

about loans alternativeloans month 60580 loans homeloan 5 mortgage downpayment100 cash guaranteed loans228 loans mortgagetime 1st buyers loanon financing 100 loans Map

When Do Google, Washington Post, Time Warner, Disney, Microsoft, Cox et al. work together lobbying? As they help IAB make the U.S safe for Internet Advertising practices

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has stepped up its efforts as a lobbying force in D.C. The group wants to make sure we don’t have laws and regulations which would meaningfully protect the public, including consumers. Here’s how the IAB describes its “Public Policy Council” (one of the groups many standing councils and committees):

“Proactively lobby Congress and Federal Administrative agencies on privacy issues, with a focus on educating key decision-makers on the importance of the interactive advertising industry. 2. Help craft meaningful legislative proposals that protect consumers’ privacy interests without unduly burdening legitimate interactive advertising practices. 3. Engage the Federal Trade Commission to influence future enforcement proceedings, potential rulemakings, and public workshops on issues central to the interactive advertising industry.”

Here is their mission statement and a list of the policy council members:

Mission

Lead the advocacy efforts of IAB’s membership as they engage all levels of government on key policy issues in order to ensure continued growth of the industry.

Committee Leadership
  • Dave Morgan, Tacoda, Chair
Committee Participants
  • Alan Davidson, Google, Inc.
  • Alan Roth, Zango
  • Alexandra Wilson, Cox Newspapers, Inc.
  • Alissa Kaplan, 24/7 Real Media, Inc.
  • Andrew Moskowitz, Vizi Media
  • Anne Lucey, CBS Digital Media
  • Bennet Kelley, ValueClick Media
  • Bennett Zucker, Right Media Inc.
  • Bill Bailey, Walt Disney Internet Group
  • Bob Filice, Blue Lithium
  • Brad Aaron, Q Interactive
  • Brent Thompson, IAC Media & Advertising
  • Brooks Dobbs, DoubleClick, Inc.
  • Bryce Harlow, CBS Digital Media
  • Caroline Little, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
  • Charles Curran, AOL
  • Chris Kelly, Facebook
  • Chris Lin, comScore
  • Cliff Harris, Cablevision Advanced Systems
  • Colin Johnson, Motive Interactive Inc
  • Craig Spiezle, MSN (Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions)
  • Dan O’Connell, WeatherBug
  • Danny Choriki, ADTECH US, Inc.
  • David Cancel, Compete, Inc.
  • David Green, NBC Universal Digital Media
  • David Payne, CNN.com
  • Diane McDade, MSN (Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions)
  • Don Mathis, Azoogle Ads, Inc.
  • Erin Miranda, Weather Channel Interactive (Weather.com)
  • Frank Torres, MSN (Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions)
  • George Pappachen, Dynamic Logic
  • Greg Berretta, Zango
  • Gregg Pendola, Walt Disney Internet Group
  • Henry Goldstein, CNET Networks, Inc.
  • Hillary Smith, Right Media Inc.
  • Ho Shin, Advertising.com
  • Jeff Long, Revolution Health Group
  • Joey Lesesne, Cox Newspapers, Inc.
  • John Barabino, Google, Inc.
  • John Hopkins, WebMD
  • John Orlando, CBS Digital Media
  • John Wilk, WorldNow
  • Jonathan Meyers, Forbes.com
  • Josh Brown, CBS Digital Media
  • Jules Polonetsky, AOL
  • Karl Gallant, ValueClick, Inc.
  • Ken Levin, Edmunds.com
  • Ken McGraw, Zango
  • Laura O’Daly, iVillage, Inc
  • Lesley Grossblatt, I/PRO
  • Leslie Dunlap, Yahoo!, Inc.
  • Linda Chan, SourceForge Inc.
  • Linda Schoemaker, aQuantive, Inc.
  • Lisa Anderson, AOL
  • Louis Hengen, Tacoda
  • Marilyn Cade, AT&T
  • Mary Berk, MSN (Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions)
  • Matt Kaminer, WebMD
  • Matthew Stern, Musicloads
  • Melissa DeVita, MediaFLO USA, Inc.
  • Michael Drobac, Ask, Inc
  • Pablo Chavez, Google, Inc.
  • Pesach Lattin, Vizi Media
  • Phil Stelter, Range Online Media, Inc.
  • Richard Bates, Walt Disney Internet Group
  • Rick Lane, News. Corp
  • Robert Gratchner, Atlas Solutions
  • Sarah Deutsch, Idearc Media Corp.’s SuperPages.com
  • Shayne Bryant, Idearc Media Corp.’s SuperPages.com
  • Shayne Wiley, Yahoo!, Inc.
  • Sheri McGaughy, Weather Channel Interactive (Weather.com)
  • Sherrese Smith, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
  • Steve Emmert, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
  • Susan Fox, Walt Disney Internet Group
  • Tom Bartel, Return Path
  • Tom Beck, Enlighten

5500 loans 72p requirements deemedreceivable system ac management creditaccept payments credit 123 onlinecardc credit aceptcasino 18dice 3 casinocredit solutions advanced5 casino diamonds Map

Google & Doubleclick: Merging the No 1. Video Platforms

It’s important to follow the online ad marketplace for video-based advertising. Note what a Doubleclick top exec said in a ClickZ interview: ” We claim we do the most video on the Internet.” The same exec also said that “[A]ccording to all the figures, as far as we can tell, we’re the second largest rich media vendor.”

Of course, Google’s YouTube is the number one online video brand as well [a Google rep. is quoted saying that it’s now the eight largest website]. As YouTube explains, it is “the world’s largest online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally created videos. YouTube… acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.”

In other words, the merging of Google with Doubleclick will create an online video and search advertising and marketing powerhouse–one which threatens both competition and privacy (among other issues).

excerpt:
A Multi-Party System or a Monopoly

While Google looks at spending potentially $4.6 billion on the wireless auction, it has another multi-billion dollar matter it would like to have settled. That, of course, is its acquisition of DoubleClick. Announced in April, the deal has been met with significant backlash and questioning from all corners. Currently the deal awaits Federal Trade Commission approval. At stake is potential control of the Web advertising ecosystem. A marriage of Google & DoubleClick creates a clear pecking order for all advertising online — an order that would once again put Yahoo and Microsoft in a trailing position…To date, Google employees have out-contributed Microsoft employees toward the 2008 presidential candidates — a stark contrast to the 10:1 contribution margin that existed in 2006…As Google tries to rewrite the rules on how advertising is done and expands its reach into all spectrums of communications, the importance of Washington will only grow. Over the past two years Google has grown its Washington lobbyists base from 0 to 12 (a sizable number for a technology company), hosted four 2008 presidential candidates on its campus (three Dems, one Republican) and established its own political action committee that has already out-raised its 2006 total.”

from: “The Next President: Sponsored by Google.” Chris Copeland. Search Insider. August 10, 2007.

goo movies german girlsediting software moviemovies college sexfree titty fuck moviesmovie star porn12 dbz moviesoftware movie editingmovies fucking wedding Map

CDT’s Privacy “Report”—Full Disclosure is Missing

CDT has long been an ally of the various data collection companies it purports to oversee on behalf of consumers. It’s funded by a number of them. In fact Microsoft’s Bill Gates helped raise money for the group just last March.

The report released today fails to address the wide-ranging privacy threat coming from the major search engines and their advertising clients. It fails to acknowledge that it’s only because of policy-related pressure from privacy advocates—including the FTC complaint filed last November by my Center for Digital Democracy and US PIRG—that there have been modest corporate changes. [As well as the work of these two groups and EPIC in the case of Google’s proposed merger with Doubleclick, and the role of European Commission authorities]. CDT’s report also fails to acknowledge that it’s because of the unprecedented series of mergers in the data collection sector over the last few months, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL [$33.4 billion in the first half of 2007 alone, according to Ad Age. sub may be required.] —and the subsequent US and international regulatory scrutiny—that has created the “pressure” to bring about a few modest changes in data collection and retention practices. Without real advocates pressing—and regulators taking up their demands—we would have no changes at all (as minimal as they are). The marketplace’s approach isn’t protecting consumers.

Most troubling is that CDT fails to acknowledge that the widespread and evolving role of interactive advertising practices by these companies—including behavioral targeting, “rich” immersive media, and virtual reality formats—pose a serious threat to privacy and personal autonomy. It is not just the “bad” actors that require federal legislation, as CDT’s report suggests. If all Americans are to be protected online, the entire industry must be governed by federal policies designed to ensure privacy and consumer protection.

Here is a comment from my colleague Jennifer Harris: “When a group – with as close ties to the industry as CDT has – calls for government oversight, it is necessary to recognize just how much slack the online advertising and marketing industry has been given with our personal information. The main point is that consumers are at risk; updated federal consumer protection policies are essential to an environment that increasingly uses personal data as its commodity.”