At some point, you may have heard that Google has a Double Serving Ad Policy. But until you receive word from the Google Policy team that you are personally impacted, the full understanding of what this means may be hard to grasp.

Since most search campaigns are ROI or Lead focused, this particular policy can have a huge impact virtually overnight. You could see a significant decline in bookings and/or lead volume, since there would be a chance that your ads might not appear on branded or non-branded terms.
Yes, you heard right. You might not appear for your own branded terms if you are impacted by this policy. Now that I have your attention, here is some additional information that can help you to avoid this in the future.

Continue to read the complete article on Understanding Google’s Double Serving Ad Policy.

Article by Michelle Kelly 

As discussed in issue 92 of Search Marketing Trends, Google and Yahoo ran a two-week test to run Google ads alongside Yahoo's portal results. Critics bellowed as a partnership between Google and Yahoo would account for 80% of the search market. And the critics aren’t the only ones that have taken notice.

As the test comes to an end, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the two search engines. Below are some concerns of the Justice Department as well as Google and Yahoo responses.

The Justice Department has concerns that the test violates antitrust laws, which is why it has chosen to investigate. Google and Yahoo claim, however, that the Justice Department was notified before the test was even launched.

Google adds that a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo would be a much greater antitrust concern, resulting in a larger control of the search market as well as email and instant messaging. Google also spins the test as a non-exclusive partnership similar to those with AOL and Time Warner – not a merger.

The Justice Department is concerned about a call between Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, and Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and is investigating whether there are intentions of a long-term partnership.

Google and Yahoo have not commented specifically on whether the test will be extended nor the outcome of the test, but an anonymous source has stated that the test is part of a series of efforts to ward off Microsoft's bid. A Yahoo spokesperson stated, "It was premature to speculate on options the company might pursue with Google." Meanwhile, an anonymous Google source expressed that Google “remains open to further discussions with Yahoo on hammering out a deal because no final decisions have been made."

Even if Google and Yahoo harbor intentions for a long-term partnership, it will be interesting to see how quickly the Justice Department investigation is resolved. I'm sure the long FTC and EU DoubleClick acquisition approval process is still fresh in everyone's minds.

By Jenny Du

Last Thursday (April 17th, 2008), despite the state of the current US economy, the decreased value of the US dollar, and many other economic indicators suggesting that you run for the hills, Google surprised the stock market with better than expected paid click performance. Along with the US fiscal concerns, Google received negative projection reports from Comscore on the performance of paid clicks in the first quarter of 2008. Comscore’s boiler plate says they are a “global leader in measuring the digital world,” and their Google performance forecasts reported three months of decline in paid clicks from the Google advertising revenue model.

Based on the metrics collected from Comscore’s 2 million plus consumers and panelist, who allow their online/offline behaviors and transactions to be monitored and reported, Comscore projected a meager 2% growth in the United States versus a 30% growth in the previous quarter, Q4 of 2007. This 2% growth was interpreted by many stock and economic analysts as an indication that the factors affecting the overall economy were negatively affecting online advertising. Stock estimates for Google’s shares were lowered in accordance with lowered expectations, and Google’s shares closed down at $449.54 on Thursday. In a shocker after the stock market closed, at their earnings call, Google reported paid clicks were actually up 20% over the fourth quarter of 2007.

Google’s 20% growth figures included international paid clicks, while Comscore’s 2% expected growth was specifically reporting on the US paid clicks. Analysts are inferring that increased rise in paid clicks internationally are counterbalancing the decline of US clicks. The cheaper US dollar is translating into more clicks for Pounds and Yen.

In a polite shot at Comscore, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google stated, “Paid click growth was much higher than has been speculated by third parties.” At the open of the market on Friday, Google’s shares were at $530.10, up 18%. Comscore’s share, however, opened Friday down 2%, at $22.90.

In a global economy, stock analysts should be weary of making economic assumptions based on US-focused sample (panel) data, from Comscore or Nielsen. Comscore conceded in their blog that they could “do a better job of explaining the meanings and the limitations of the statistics [they] publish,”

Article by Joel Collymore

The Microsoft deadline has passed without Yahoo! responding. Is this silences golden?

Google announces an updated algorithm for indexing and ranking images.

Rob Aronson discusses the notion of "set it and forget it" in his latest article.