The proposed terms of the Google antitrust settlement in Europe have started to come to light, first through a report in the Financial Times, and this weekend, in articles from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. As anticipated, the primary "remedy" Google is offering involves labeling its own results to distinguish them from third-party publishers. Yet, there are some new twists and nuances that have not been discussed or disclosed before. They involve third-party enforcement and presentation of competitive links as alternatives to Google's own content. Apparently, the settle [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: AdSense | Google: Android | Google: Antitrust | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Outside US | Legal | Legal: Regulation | Top News

Amid industry discussion about what Google's enforcement of new policies will mean for its AdWords distribution partners, IAC says its Mindspark toolbar company, and all of its companies, are fully in compliance with the policies currently in place. Google put new standards for its partners into place in October, issuing rules meant to bar software companies, including toolbar makers, from deceiving users or making uninstallation difficult. "None of IAC's companies prey on any unsuspecting users and we are fully compliant with Google's standards and policies," Justine Sacco, the director of [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Top News

A study published by Harvard professor Latanya Sweeney claims that companies placing public record ads linked to people's names through Google may use language that reflects racial bias, though why this happens is unclear. The study found that ads associated with black identifying names were more likely to have ads with the word "arrest" in them than ads that were associated with white identifying names. From the study: A greater percentage of ads having “arrest” in ad text appeared for black identifying first names than for white identifying first names in searches on Reuters.com, on [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords

Search toolbars are big business for security software company AVG and media company IAC. But could revenue from these toolbars be in danger, as Google says it is stepping up enforcement of its policies against shady behavior related to toolbar downloads? IAC's Mindspark makes substantial revenues through search toolbars, and AVG, in September 2011, said it had made about 20% of its revenues (or around $40 million) from Yahoo and Google combined that year to date. People install these toolbars for the promise of security or entertainment. Then, when they conduct searches, they get back [...]

Related Topics: Ask | Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Top News

In a nod to consistency across platforms and the growth in mobile usage, Google has overhauled its AdSense text ads to be more mobile-friendly, adding a large arrow button to each ad that should make it easier for "fat fingers" to click effectively on tablets and mobile phones. The buttons will also appear on desktop versions of text ads on the Google Display Network. The new text ads also feature slight changes to font size, spacing and text layout. Google says its experiments with the new format indicate an uplift in clicks across publishers. No changes will occur on text ads displayi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords

Google has introduced several new reporting improvements for AdSense publishers, and it has released new research that shows publishers make more money with "smart pricing" -- even though their revenue-per-click is discounted as compared with search ads -- than they would without it. One reporting improvement is that AdSense publishers can now view "all time" stats, meaning they can view all earnings, impressions, and clicks ever accrued over the life of the account. This is a feature that existed in the previous AdSense interface, and it's now been brought back. Google has also made [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

[caption id="attachment_117580" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Philip J. Cenedella of the NAHTVA"][/caption] Google says it's spending "millions of dollars" to police AdWords ads to ensure they're not contributing to human trafficking, but the head of a victim's rights group seems to believe that's not enough. Asked what he thinks Google should do, Philip J. Cenedella of the National Association of Human Trafficking Victim Advocates (NAHTVA) says they should, "stop ALL of these ads until they can guarantee 0.0% of the providers of the services are NOT trafficking victims, explo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense | Google: Legal

Google has revamped the Ad Review Center for AdSense, aiming to make it easier for publishers to control the ads that appear on their sites. The new Ad Review center will show ads of all targeting types that have previously appeared, and allow publishers to review and block future display of them. If ads are targeted by placement, publishers can review them in advance, before they appear on the site. Ads can be blocked one-by-one, rather than by groups. Google will take the information about ads that are blocked and use it to predict ads that might offend, highlighting them for the publi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

paidContent reports the lawsuit brought against Google in 2008 over quality of ads showing on parked or error message web pages has been thrown out by the court. On Thursday, January 5th, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila turned down the class action suit brought against Google. He said he would not allow the suit because "it was more appropriate for companies who had bought the ads to show any alleged harm on an individual basis," according to paidContent. Here is the 25-page court document with the ruling: Google Parked Domain Class Actionvar docstoc_docid="110404116";var docstoc_t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Legal: General

The old AdSense interface is gone for good, as of yesterday, so holdouts clinging to that version are being thrust smack-dab in the middle of the new AdSense. Users had previously been able to toggle back and forth between the old and new versions of the interface. Publishers have certainly had plenty of warning. Google began testing the interface as far back as November 2009. It was released to all publishers in November 2010, and Google warned in September that the old version would soon be sunset. Still, some in the Webmaster World forums complained about the change, while others said [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

Google has long allowed approved third-party networks to serve inventory into its AdSense display network, and now it says publishers will begin to get reporting on impressions served, earnings and performance by network. The third-party networks in AdSense are enabled via Google's DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and the system aims to let publishers to serve the highest value impression with each pageload, therefore earning the highest amount possible. Publishers can block by network via the AdSense interface. Networks participating include Rocket Fuel, Dotomi, Quantcast, Turn, AdRoll.com and [x+ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords

Earlier this week, Google made a significant change purportedly to better protect the search privacy of users. In reality, it specifically -- and deliberately -- left a gaping hole open to benefit its bottom line. If you pay-to-play, Google will share its search data with you. Google's a big company that goes after revenue in a variety of ways some critics feel put users second. However, I'm struggling to think of other examples where Google has acted in such a crass, it's all-about-the-revenue manner as it has this week. The best comparison I can think of is when Google decided to allow C [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Google: Antitrust | Google: Critics | Google: Privacy | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Google: Webmaster Central | Top News

Visitors to Google Display Network sites will begin seeing +1s and annotations on display ads for the first time today, according to Google. The initiative, announced nearly a month ago, is aimed at adding social cues -- recommendations -- to display advertising. The addition of social cues at least partly takes its cues from Facebook ads, which can be targeted to "friends of fans." If a friend +1s an ad, or the landing page URL associated with an ad, the ad will get a boost in the auction, giving it a higher chance of displaying on the page. It's thought the ads with +1s and annotation [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords

Google has worked the most-requested features from its older interface into its new one, including creating scheduled reports and viewing channels on the Home tab. Now, it's getting ready to sunset the old interface, as of mid-November. So, Google is urging AdSense publishers to take the time now to familiarize themselves with the new interface, though they'll still be able to toggle back and forth for the next few weeks. [caption id="attachment_94550" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image provided by Google"][/caption] The new AdSense view includes multi-dimension reporting, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

Search AdWords have had +1 buttons since late May, and now the +1 functionality is coming to the Google Display Network (GDN). Additionally, +1 data will, for the first time, serve as a signal of relevance in the AdWords auction -- for display only, for now. As with the +1s that accompany text ads, people who see ads on the display network will be able to see whether someone Google knows to be connected to them has +1ed the landing page associated with the ad. The total number of +1s could also be displayed. The +1s could have been done on the marketers' Web site, in organic search results, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Top News

Google has added a new review step to its process for adding new AdSense publishers, presumably to better eliminate abuses and improve the quality of the AdSense network for advertisers. In the new process, publishers' sites will be reviewed after they've placed the AdSense ad code on their sites, and real, paying ads won't run until after that review. "We’re continually evaluating our AdSense application process in order to ensure the safest possible network for our advertisers, as well as the best possible experience for you, our publishers," Max Cohen, AdSense product manager, wrote in [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

Perhaps sensing "blood in the water," a French company called 1plusV has sued Google in the Paris Commercial Court for the equivalent of $421 million. (The civil complaint was orginally filed on February 22, 2011.) An operator of vertical search sites, 1plusV is the corporate parent of legal search engine Ejustice.fr, one of three companies (including Foundem and Microsoft-owned Ciao) that filed formal antitrust complaints against Google with European Commission last year. Those complaints led directly to the EC's decision to pursue an antitrust action against Google, which is now in proces [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense | Google: Business Issues | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Top News

The Obama campaign ad that started it all -- a display ad on Real Clear Politics that requested a user's e-mail address -- wasn't even a Google ad. But someone from the Republican National Senatorial Committee (RNSC) thought it was, so she called her Google sales rep and asked about getting something similar for the GOP. (Publishers that run Google's AdSense ads aren't barred from running ads from other networks, so ads from Google can appear next to, or subsequently to, ads from other third-party networks, or even those sold by the sites themselves. ) What happened next is at the ro [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords | Google: Business Issues

Google has tweaked its policies for placing AdSense ads to curb abuse, going so far as to forbid the placement of its code in iFrames. Though the company acknowledges there are some valid uses of iFrames, it will require publishers using them to be explicitly granted an exception by Google. The policy change is likely to raise the ire of publishers, unless Google is liberal and efficient at granting exceptions. [caption id="attachment_81175" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Example of a partially-obscured iFramed ad. "][/caption] Publishers occasionally place AdSense or other ads [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

It sure sounded like Google's SVP of advertising Susan Wojcicki was promising phone support for all AdSense publishers "in the next quarter," at yesterday's annual shareholder meeting, but a Google spokesman now tells me it's only "testing additional phone support" for AdSense publishers. Wojcicki's statement regarding a timeline is said to have referred to the free phone support the company rolled out to advertisers in early April. (Hear the discussion about publisher support here starting around 1:06.) "We are working very hard to enable all of our advertisers and publishers to co [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords