Search Engine Land » Google: Domains

Google Fights Order To Surrender Names Of Search Marketers

Pamela Parker — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:02:20 +0000

A federal judge has ordered Google to reveal the identities of four AdWords advertisers who were clients of search engine marketing agency Wpromote. The order comes as part of a lawsuit involving Google’s AdSense for Domains and AdSense for Errors programs, in which plaintiffs argue that the search company placed their ads on low-quality web pages.

The marketers’ data was introduced anonymously as part of the search company’s defense, in an effort to prove that parked domains and error pages could produce good conversion rates. Since the report, authored by Wpromote CEO Michael Mothner, was part of the defense, U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd ruled that the names of the advertisers should be disclosed, so that plaintiffs could dispute whether the report is representative.

The order issued earlier this month is the latest twist in a consolidated case, now being argued in the Northern District of California, that encompasses six different lawsuits originally filed against Google in 2008. Plaintiffs include RK West, JIT Packaging, Pulaski & Middleman, West Coast Cameras, Hal Levitte and Richard Oesterling.

Despite a December 22 deadline for disclosure, Google continues to argue against the requirement to divulge the client’s identities, claiming that it is confidential information.

“Such information includes detailed analyses regarding the performance of the ads that RK West and the Wpromote Clients placed through the AdWords program,” Google’s attorneys said in a filing asking for modification of the judge’s order. “Public disclosure of this information could cause competitive harm to RK West and the Wpromote Clients by giving third-parties access to their sensitive business information.”

The plaintiffs in the case had also asked the judge to compel Google to provide detailed, rather than aggregate, data on all of Wpromote’s clients, arguing that Mothner considered that data in reaching his conclusions in the report. Judge Lloyd declined to do so, stating that only aggregate data need be provided. Google had already provided that for all four clients at the time of the order.

Google’s AdSense for Domains and AdSense for Errors programs deliver ads to Internet users when they land at a non-editorial domain or an error page, often by accident after mistyping a URL.

MediaPost was first to report Tuesday on this latest development in the case.

Google Expands AdSense For Domains Globally

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:13:59 +0000

I am now seeing reports from several blogs that Google is expanding AdSense for Domains internationally. In December 2008, Google expanded the program to all US publishers. They promised to continue the expansion and seems to have done so, overnight, to all international publishers. Google has not confirmed this with a blog post yet, but this has happened.

Back when Google did the US expansion of this product, I blasted Google. I felt back then that Google expanded this program for one reason alone, to make a quick buck. That is fair and all, but back then, I thought that expanding this program would not only help Google become richer, but also help destroy the internet with an influx of wasted web pages that do not help searchers or advertisers.

Since then, I have watched the space, looking and expecting to hear complaints from the searcher, advertiser and even the publisher side. I was expecting searchers would be complaining about landing on these worthless domains. I was expecting to see advertisers complain about the quality of the traffic generated through these domains. I was expecting to see publishers complaining about the new set of arbitrageurs coming on board and clogging up their ad space.

But I have honestly not seen many complaints that warrant me to be upset about this latest expansion of this program. That doesn’t mean I am not worried about Google pushing this out internationally; I am worried. Like I promised at the Search Engine Roundtable, I will watch this space and report back any significant complaints related to this Domains for AdSense program.

Postscript: Google has confirmed with me that Google has indeed opened up AdSense for Domains internationally.

Google Releases G.cn For Chinese Users

Barry Schwartz — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:49:53 +0000

Google China: What’s Up G? from China Tech News reports that Google has launched their new domain in Google, G.cn. The domain name redirects to Google.cn, but is considered one of the “most important steps that Google has taken for localization in China,” according to China Tech News.

Google currently lags behind Baidu’s 74.5% market share in China with 14.3%. It is expected that the new short domain may help Google gain some share in China.

Lawsuit: Google’s AdSense For Domains Program Contributes To Trademark Infringement

Barry Schwartz — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:29:54 +0000

Google Sued in Domainer Lawsuit–Vulcan Golf v. Google from Eric Goldman covers a new lawsuit in which Google is being sued for allegedly violating trademarks by helping domainers monetize “typosquatter” domains.

Eric explains that this filing (4.3MB PDF) may be the first lawsuit against Google for its domainer relationships. The complaint considers Google as the domain name licensee, because AdSense for Domains effectively takes control of domains in the program.

Google’s policies aren’t supposed to allow typo domains to be in its program, but these get through. And since Google puts ads on them, the case alleges Google is contributing to trademark infringement.

Google Registers ClimateSaverPC.com: Signs Of New Google PC Coming?

Barry Schwartz — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:28:04 +0000

Gary Price notes, as does Garett Rogers at Googling Google, that Google now owns the domain climatesaverpc.com. Garett speculates that Google may be thinking about building and selling personal computers that are green friendly, i.e. are climate and earth savers. We know Google has been active in environmental issues, though it has repeatedly stated to have no plans to sell hardware.