Google launches keyword based contextual based banner advertising.

Effect on Other Companies:

• If Google can get many of their AdSense publishers to sign up for this then they will have access to one of the largest, most targeted contextual based banner programs on the web.

• Interactive media agencies and webmasters may be able to do nearly all of their advertising at Google. Exceptions:
  • Overture still will be used by many due to it's large distribution network.

  • Link buyers will obviously not be able to buy links through Google...
• Google can no longer in any way shape or form claim to be "just a technology company." This move cements their position as a large media company.
• DoubleClick's stock is down 1% on the day (last I checked...this move by Google has to make their CEO cringe!).

Google AdWords Images:
Google Images AdWords FAQ's Here.
Google AdSense: What's New

Google AdWords Sizes: You may choose from four standard ad sizes: Banner (468 x 60), Leaderboard (728 x 90), Inline Rectangle (300 x 250), and Skyscraper (120 x 600). Sizes may be adjusted slightly to display the "Ads by Google" tagline.

Example Google Ads

Placing Image Ads on Google:
"At this time, we won't show image ads on Google. The initial launch of image ads is focused on sites already showing graphical ads. Because Google image ads are targeted specifically to a page's content, advertisers showing ads on these sites would realize the greatest benefit. (Please note that a content site publisher must opt in to the image ads program before your image ads may appear on his or her site.)"

How Does Google Know When to Display Image Ads?
If your image ad is more relevant, it will appear. If not, your text ad may appear in its place. This targeting model ensures you're reaching your prospects with the most effective ads.

Will Google Put Image Ads on My Site?
Google AdSense publishers can chose to opt in to graphic ads. Graphic ads will not automatically appear on AdSense publishers websites. You can choose to run image ads by simply selecting the image ads checkbox from the Ad Preference page of your AdSense account. Or, set your preference at a page level by selecting the type of ads you'd like to show when generating your ad code.

Cool new Google search result scrapper. It may soon get banned, but if it does not then it will be an awesome tool for SEO.

Proogle shows search PageRank with search results. This can quickly give you an idea of how competitive a search term phrase may be. In addition you can add a couple features to your search to make it super useful for SEO.

Instead of looking at a search phrase you can see who is linking to a site (using link:www.blawhateversite.com). In addition you can also add &num=100 at the end of the address bar to view 100 results per page.

here is an example search on SEO Inc.'s backlinks

Proogle will allow you to quickly find your competitors most valuable backlinks. It is not quite as powerful as OptiLink, but pretty damn darn cool for free!!!

May 20, 2004 Update: Proogle was rebranded to Prog.

Google has recently changed it's trademark policy to allow people to bid on trademark phrases of companies within the US and Canada. Inside the US and Canada they will not allow trademark terms to appear in the ad copy. Outside those areas the will check ad text and keyword.

There has not yet been any clear statement in what the valid trademark laws are on the internet. With the advent of <iframe>'s and paid ads triggered by keywords the waters are sure to be muddy for an exceptionally long time...perhaps indefinitely.

Trademark owners should still be able to protect their trademarks via the autmated price system of Google. Trademark terms showing up in ads will warrent greater clickthrough rates since their terms will appear bolded. This will cause the prices to be reduced as these clickthrough rates are factored into click price. Your competitors will be required to spend much more to have their ad compete. Google AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure – Trademark rights in US and Canada

When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner, we will only investigate whether the advertisements at issue are using the trademarked term in ad text . If they are, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademarked term from the text of the ad and prevent the advertiser from using the trademarked term in ad text in the future. Please note that we will not disable keywords associated with trademark usage. In addition, please note that any such investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.

Google AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure – Trademark rights outside US and Canada

When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner, our review is limited to ensuring that the advertisements at issue are not using the trademarked term in the ad text or as a keyword trigger. If they are, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademarked term from the ad text or keyword list and will prevent the advertiser from using the trademarked term in the future. Please note that any such investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.

Source: Google Trademark Complain Procedure

This entry was inspired by a recent article from Danny Sullivan.

Lots O good Google PageRank info below. Still not much out on Yahoo Webrank though... What is Google PageRank?
Google PageRank is a mathematical approximation that a random web surfer would cross any given page prior to starting to surf over again. It is a measure of link popularity on a 1 - 10 logarithmic scale. One powerful link from a strong site is worth way more than many links from small sites.

How do I check PageRank?

• You can download the Google Toolbar (with advanced features).

• PageRank also shows in the Google Directory (it is on a slightly different scale though).
• Top25Web has a free PageRank checking tool.
• Rusty Brick also created a tool for figuring out future PageRank which is somewhat questionable in it's exactness, but fun to look at. It has been telling me that this site will rank as a 10 or 11, so that will require you providing manu links into me :)

How do I check my Competitors PageRank?

• The same way you would check your own. OR

• There are automated tools which process portions of the web to help you find link partners quicker. Here are two interesting tools:
  • SEO Guy has a tool which allows you to set PageRank levels and perform a search for any given term. It will return a list of top ranking websites which have a PageRank equal to or greater than the # you requested.

  • For deeper link analysis, OptiLink link analysis software - orders the backlinks of your competitors in order of PageRank so you can Quickly view his most important backlinks (in the eyes of Google).

More on PageRank
PageRank is only one aspect of website promotion. It does play a huge role in the current Google ranking system, but there are many other factors. Generally some sites could really do well by making sure their site is well integrated into their local community and then buying a link or two to suppliment their rankings.

The web does self organize into micro communities and PageRank does not take that into account as well as search engines such as Teoma do (see also: Teoma review).

Buying PageRank
It is probably worth it for many sites to buy 1 or 2 PR7 or so links. I have been able to locate them for under $100 a month and sometimes cheaper than $50...a few times even free. I have seen run of the site PR7 links around $200 per month.

There are many many reseller networks of people selling PageRank. You want to make sure you are as close to the source as possible when buying links. IE: you may want to buy off a website, a link broker, or link brokers friend, but you start to run into heavy inflation when you buy links off a link broker from a different link broker from a link broker...

The prices of the links are spread extremely wide. There are many important factors such as

• How well the webmaster knows what their links are worth.

• The PageRank of the page.
• The number of links on the page.
• How well that page fits the theme of your site.
• The direct traffic that link will bring.
• The length of the contract.
• Sometimes you can get discounts for quantity buys.

On my other site I have listed more PageRank resources and more in depth Google PageRank coverage.

Yahoo! Webrank
As you can see there is a ton of info out there on PageRank. Since Yahoo! Webrank is new and expiremental there is no solid data out there on it.

They are currently testing Yahoo! Webrank in a beta test which is closed. In Danny Sullivan's article he pointed me to a backdoor link he found in Webmaster World which will allow you to download the toolbar that will show the Yahoo! Webrank. In addition Digital Point has a Yahoo! Webrank tool which sometimes provides sporadic or random results. Its inaccuracies may actually be due to the fact that Yahoo! Webrank is still in a beta test.

After months of testing (and me thinking I was part of another test) Google has unveiled its new look search. The new Google is a less cluttered, more crisp looking search result page. In addition the Google home page has lost its tabs and now just has small words above the search box. The Google Directory no longer is listed on the home page and the Google Directory category listings are no longer appearing in the search results. Google appears to be distancing itself from the Open Directory Project.

Froogle has been added to the home page as well as the SERP pages. To list your products in Froogle for free be sure to fill out your Froogle Feed. Froogle also has a "recent items found" list underneath it's search box.

Google Groups are also showing the new AdWords format.

View the new look Google SERP.

People have been discussing the new look Google at WMW.

One major change which will go highly unnoticed by most people is that there is no longer an interest bar to show relative click through rates between different ads participating in the Google AdWords program.

The single biggest difference with the new Google search is that the ads tend to blend seamlessly into the content. Google is perhaps doing this to fight the potential text ad burnout that we may face in the near future if all text ads look extremely similar.