Doing what they love, the rest follows
As a past founder of a technology startup, I understand the elation of coming up with an idea that solves a real need, building a product, and seeing people use it to make their lives better. Even more satisfaction comes when you can do all of this and pay the bills too. As I mentioned in this article it brings a smile to my face to hear about entrepreneurs in the developing world who use AdSense to replace their day job with AdSense earnings -- simply by writing about what they know and love. The story says these people are on "Google's hidden payroll" -- I say let's not hide this opportunity any longer.
Get your ad on the map…literally
Advertisers and users alike know that AdWords ads are a great way to find relevant information. But sometimes you wonder where the businesses that you see advertising online are actually located. Well, we’ve just announced a new ad format -- the local business ad -- which ties targeted ads into a local context. To get the details, we caught up with Sandra, from the Local team:
Ready to let your customers know exactly where you are on the map? Just click the 'Create New Local Business Ad' link from within the Ad Group view of your account to get started. Or, learn more about local business ads first.
With local business ads, you can promote your business location within the map on Google Local. Users searching for your products or services will be able to clearly see how close (or far) they are from your business' physical location. In addition to your ad text, you can also include a phone number or add an image of your company logo or one of the products you carry. Whether it’s a hotel or flowers, pizza or plumbing, you can get key information about your business in front of potential customers as they browse or shop locally online.
If your business has multiple locations, you can promote them all within the same Ad Group or campaign using the same keyword lists -- your ads will appear whenever someone is searching for those keywords near any one of your locations. Local business ads are associated with business listings in Google Local, so check to make sure your listings are included and up-to-date. If you want to make changes, simply visit the Local Business Center. And, for those of you with more than ten business locations, you might want to consider uploading a feed.
Ready to let your customers know exactly where you are on the map? Just click the 'Create New Local Business Ad' link from within the Ad Group view of your account to get started. Or, learn more about local business ads first.
AdWords 101: Targeting the right customers (Part 1 of 2)
One of the biggest reasons why AdWords can be so effective for your business is that it provides the ability to target your ads specifically to your prospective customers. AdWords offers a variety of targeting options, such as language, location, distribution (where your ads appear), and criteria (by keyword or by site). Today we’ll cover the first two: language and location.
English? Español? Estonian?
In this increasingly global marketplace, you may find that your customers don’t necessarily all speak the same language (literally). You can take advantage of the language targeting options within AdWords to display ads to users in 56 different languages – everything from English or French to Icelandic and Thai. You can choose your language targeting preferences when you create a new campaign, or change existing preferences under "Edit Campaign Settings." To target multiple languages in a single campaign, hold down the CTRL key and click the languages of your choice.
Note: many advertisers ask if Google will translate keywords and ad text into different languages—and no, we do not. The ads will appear just as you've written them. So, for this reason, if you have, say, German customers but don’t feel comfortable creating campaigns in German, we recommend that you seek help from professional translators in order to come up with the best ads and keywords for your customers.
Advanced example: another question we often hear is whether or not the ad text must be in the same language as the one(s) being targeted, and the answer is no. For example, if you wanted to target French-speaking prospective customers using an ad written in English, you could choose "French" in your language targeting preferences and still submit an English ad. We can't guarantee that the ad will receive a good response, but when Google detects that a user's language preference is French, and he or she types in one of your chosen keywords, your English-language ad may be displayed.
Local, Regional, National or International?
If you sell your products or services to customers in a particular area, you may want to consider creating location targeted campaigns. AdWords allows you to target your ads to potential customers in cities, regions, territories, countries, or any area that you define by points on a map. For more detailed explanations, check out our previous post about location targeting.
Homework: you can learn more about these targeting options by reviewing these resources below.
Learning Center
Language & Location Targeting
Help Center – FAQ
Targeting by language
Targeting by location: Country or Territory targeting
Targeting by location: Regional or Customized targeting
Stay tuned for part 2 of this lesson, in which we’ll tell you how to target the search and content networks, as well as explain the difference between keyword and site targeting.
English? Español? Estonian?
In this increasingly global marketplace, you may find that your customers don’t necessarily all speak the same language (literally). You can take advantage of the language targeting options within AdWords to display ads to users in 56 different languages – everything from English or French to Icelandic and Thai. You can choose your language targeting preferences when you create a new campaign, or change existing preferences under "Edit Campaign Settings." To target multiple languages in a single campaign, hold down the CTRL key and click the languages of your choice.
Note: many advertisers ask if Google will translate keywords and ad text into different languages—and no, we do not. The ads will appear just as you've written them. So, for this reason, if you have, say, German customers but don’t feel comfortable creating campaigns in German, we recommend that you seek help from professional translators in order to come up with the best ads and keywords for your customers.
Advanced example: another question we often hear is whether or not the ad text must be in the same language as the one(s) being targeted, and the answer is no. For example, if you wanted to target French-speaking prospective customers using an ad written in English, you could choose "French" in your language targeting preferences and still submit an English ad. We can't guarantee that the ad will receive a good response, but when Google detects that a user's language preference is French, and he or she types in one of your chosen keywords, your English-language ad may be displayed.
Local, Regional, National or International?
If you sell your products or services to customers in a particular area, you may want to consider creating location targeted campaigns. AdWords allows you to target your ads to potential customers in cities, regions, territories, countries, or any area that you define by points on a map. For more detailed explanations, check out our previous post about location targeting.
Homework: you can learn more about these targeting options by reviewing these resources below.
Learning Center
Language & Location Targeting
Help Center – FAQ
Targeting by language
Targeting by location: Country or Territory targeting
Targeting by location: Regional or Customized targeting
Stay tuned for part 2 of this lesson, in which we’ll tell you how to target the search and content networks, as well as explain the difference between keyword and site targeting.
TechnoServe update: New program in Ghana
The Google Foundation supports select organizations whose work addresses the challenge of global poverty in ways that are effective, sustainable, and scalable. From time to time we invite guest bloggers from grantee organizations to tell us about their work.
We’re pleased to report that TechnoServe and the Google Foundation are launching a national business plan competition this week in Ghana, called “Believe Begin Become.” It’s designed to help Ghanaian entrepreneurs develop skills, obtain seed or expansion capital and establish the networks that help transform their business ideas into successful enterprises. (Watch the video about the program.)
More and more, entrepreneurs are recognizing the value of gaining skills, tools and a strong business network, and we know from our experience in Latin America what this kind of competition can mean to entrepreneurs. The program helps establish a crucial business network that will carry on long after the competition ends.
Our Organizing Committee colleague Ishmael Yamson puts it this way: “There are many entrepreneurs out there with good ideas — but they need encouragement to translate those ideas into concrete activities. Believe Begin Become can help them to do that.”
Get in touch if you’d like to get involved.
Update: added link to Google Video at end of paragraph 1.
Kick this
What do you get when Google and Nike get together and brainstorm? A sneaker-shaped server? A great TV ad for web search? No, you get Joga.com, an online football community that combines Google technology with Nike's unique sports content and access to players. Joga brings people all over the world together to celebrate their shared passion for the game of football (for you Americans out there, by "football" I mean "soccer").
What can Joga.com members expect? Three words: content, community, and players.
Content – Create your own personalized page to add your favorite pictures, videos and blogs, and view what your fellow fans have added. Members can keep current with Friend Requests, Alerts, and Messages too.
Community - Joga users can create their own teams, find local fields, and play other Joga teams in their community.
Players - Gain exclusive access to profiles and information about Nike players.
What does it all mean? Well, Joga.com comes from "Joga Bonito," Portuguese for "play beautiful," a phrase that symbolizes both any football player's desire to embody the grace of the game and our goal to offer a community site that helps promotes the sheer fun, skill, sportsmanship and community spirit that make football truly the world's favorite game.
Whether we've succeeded, of course, will be up to all of you to determine. We look forward to seeing football-crazy people from around the world playing as beautifully as possible at Joga.com.
Hide deleted campaigns, Ad Groups, and more...
Here's a really short and to-the-point advertiser email that asks a great question:
While everything you create within your account remains there permanently as an historical overview of your account's performance, hiding deleted campaigns, Ad Groups, ad creatives, or deleted keywords is actually quick and easy. And, should you ever decide that you want to see what you've done in the past, you may easily do so.
You may choose to hide deleted campaigns from the Campaign Summary page of your account by selecting "Show only active campaigns" (or "Show all but deleted campaigns" which will still show your paused campaigns) from the drop-down menu located near the top-center of the chart that shows your campaign stats.
Similarly, to hide deleted Ad Groups, go the campaign within which that Ad Group is located. Then, select "Show only active Ad Groups" (or "Show all but deleted Ad Groups") from the drop-down menu. In this case, you'll find this menu above and to the left of your campaign statistics chart. It's beneath the header that shows the campaign's name.
And, if you want to hide deleted keywords and deleted ads, simply make sure the check box that says "Include deleted items that were active in this date range" is unchecked. You'll find the check box above your keyword list, just below the date range tool, in the Ad Group view of your account.
For all of these settings, once you make a selection, that setting will be applied every time you log in to your account until you change it. If you do change your mind later, just select the appropriate option from the drop-down menus and/or the check box mentioned above. Voila!
I'm wondering how to really delete a campaign? You know, make it go away? Not see it any more?... - Make it gone
While everything you create within your account remains there permanently as an historical overview of your account's performance, hiding deleted campaigns, Ad Groups, ad creatives, or deleted keywords is actually quick and easy. And, should you ever decide that you want to see what you've done in the past, you may easily do so.
You may choose to hide deleted campaigns from the Campaign Summary page of your account by selecting "Show only active campaigns" (or "Show all but deleted campaigns" which will still show your paused campaigns) from the drop-down menu located near the top-center of the chart that shows your campaign stats.
Similarly, to hide deleted Ad Groups, go the campaign within which that Ad Group is located. Then, select "Show only active Ad Groups" (or "Show all but deleted Ad Groups") from the drop-down menu. In this case, you'll find this menu above and to the left of your campaign statistics chart. It's beneath the header that shows the campaign's name.
And, if you want to hide deleted keywords and deleted ads, simply make sure the check box that says "Include deleted items that were active in this date range" is unchecked. You'll find the check box above your keyword list, just below the date range tool, in the Ad Group view of your account.
For all of these settings, once you make a selection, that setting will be applied every time you log in to your account until you change it. If you do change your mind later, just select the appropriate option from the drop-down menus and/or the check box mentioned above. Voila!
And we're back
The Google Blog was unavailable for a short time tonight. We quickly learned from our initial investigation that there was no systemwide vulnerability for Blogger. We'll let you know more about what did happen once we finish looking into it.
Update: We've determined the cause of tonight's outage. The blog was mistakenly deleted by us (d'oh!) which allowed the blog address to be temporarily claimed by another user. This was not a hack, and nobody guessed our password. Our bad.
Reaching your customers with other Google products
Not long ago, the four of us at Inside AdWords got together for dinner at a local Cuban restaurant after work. While we promised we wouldn't talk about AdWords (we do that all day!), we found it difficult to extend that agreement to other Google products. From locating the restaurant to finding our favorite Cuban recipe online, we were reminded how Google services come in handy not only when you're hungry, but also when you’re trying to maximize exposure to your local business.
First, we found the restaurant using Google Local. Luckily for us, this restaurant was already listed in the local search results. If your business isn’t, be sure to visit the Local Business Center to learn more about how to get listed for free. Next, we performed a quick search on Google.com to locate the restaurant’s menu and ensure that there was something for everyone (check out last week's post for more about search results inclusion). To save paper, we sent the address to Sarah's mobile phone and were on our way.
The next day, both Blake and Vivian found themselves looking for mementos from our team dinner. In an effort to diversify his Google t-shirt collection, Blake searched for one of the restaurant's t-shirts on Froogle. Unfortunately, this didn't lead to what he was looking for, but if the restaurant owners had made their shirts available on Froogle, he would have been able to get pricing information and more online. Meanwhile, Vivian couldn't shake her craving for fried plantains and wanted to make them at home. So it was off to Google Base, where she found relevant recipes -- but none from the restaurant itself. Had the chef of this particular restaurant wanted to share his sweet secrets to success, he could have submitted his own recipe to Base too.
While you're already well aware of how AdWords ads can help people find your business, remember that making it accessible to users doesn't stop there. By using a variety of Google services, you may reach potential customers wherever they're searching, whether they’re looking for an address, a menu, or a t-shirt.
First, we found the restaurant using Google Local. Luckily for us, this restaurant was already listed in the local search results. If your business isn’t, be sure to visit the Local Business Center to learn more about how to get listed for free. Next, we performed a quick search on Google.com to locate the restaurant’s menu and ensure that there was something for everyone (check out last week's post for more about search results inclusion). To save paper, we sent the address to Sarah's mobile phone and were on our way.
The next day, both Blake and Vivian found themselves looking for mementos from our team dinner. In an effort to diversify his Google t-shirt collection, Blake searched for one of the restaurant's t-shirts on Froogle. Unfortunately, this didn't lead to what he was looking for, but if the restaurant owners had made their shirts available on Froogle, he would have been able to get pricing information and more online. Meanwhile, Vivian couldn't shake her craving for fried plantains and wanted to make them at home. So it was off to Google Base, where she found relevant recipes -- but none from the restaurant itself. Had the chef of this particular restaurant wanted to share his sweet secrets to success, he could have submitted his own recipe to Base too.
While you're already well aware of how AdWords ads can help people find your business, remember that making it accessible to users doesn't stop there. By using a variety of Google services, you may reach potential customers wherever they're searching, whether they’re looking for an address, a menu, or a t-shirt.
Google Reader learns to share
Mom always taught us to share and now we know why: it's fun. Google Reader, which keeps track of websites you like to read regularly, just added the ability to share what you like to read with your friends.
You can send a link to your starred items in Reader, and you can even put a clip on your blog with recent items from your reading list. For instance, I mark all of the interesting posts that I find as "linkblog." Then my friends can subscribe to my "linkblog" label -- even if they don't use Google Reader -- and visitors to my blog can see it in the sidebar.
Some other shared lists we've come across:
- List of Official Google Blogs (U.S. only)
- Jason's "hipsters" list
- Chris's recent activity
- Justin's "thought leaders" list
Expanding girls' horizons
Recently I was one of several Googlers who volunteered at the Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics conference at Mills, where I also teach. This annual event provides career panels and hands-on workshops to encourage middle-school girls to keep studying science and mathematics as they enter high school. I led a workshop, "How to Build a Computer," in which the students learned binary arithmetic and built a half-adder.
I don't know who had more fun, the girls or the volunteers! Google is a sponsor of the national Expanding Your Horizons Network, whose workshops have reached over 625,000 girls.
Photo by Barton Friedland
System maintenance tomorrow evening -- 3/24/06
A quick heads-up from our tech team:
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
We will be performing routine AdWords system maintenance from approximately 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. PST on Friday, March 24, 2006. Please note that, while you will not be able to access your AdWords account during this period, your campaigns will continue to run normally.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Search results and sponsored links
One of the most frequently heard questions about Google and AdWords is exemplified by this (shortened and paraphrased) post from our AdWords Help group:
We're happy to shed some light on this. To start, here's a brief glossary:
Sponsored links: the paid AdWords ads at the top and/or on the right hand side of a search results page
Search results: the unpaid search results on the left hand side of the page
The most important thing to know is that there is no connection of any sort between the unpaid search results and the paid sponsored links -- so being an AdWords advertiser will neither help nor harm one's ranking within the search results.
This leaves the important question of how to get your site to appear in the search results, since being an advertiser is not a factor in being included. Well, we'd be pleased to help you on your way. You'll find some very useful information on this topic on the Google Information for Webmasters page, including answers to such frequently asked questions as "How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google?".
Also, be sure to refer to our past posts about Google Sitemaps, which allows webmasters to give Google information about their sites so that we may index them effectively.
We are the only "widget" company in our county. When someone does a search using, for example, "widgets my county" our sponsored link shows up at the top of the list, which is how it should be...How can I get our site to show up in the free search results too? - Not there
We're happy to shed some light on this. To start, here's a brief glossary:
Sponsored links: the paid AdWords ads at the top and/or on the right hand side of a search results page
Search results: the unpaid search results on the left hand side of the page
The most important thing to know is that there is no connection of any sort between the unpaid search results and the paid sponsored links -- so being an AdWords advertiser will neither help nor harm one's ranking within the search results.
This leaves the important question of how to get your site to appear in the search results, since being an advertiser is not a factor in being included. Well, we'd be pleased to help you on your way. You'll find some very useful information on this topic on the Google Information for Webmasters page, including answers to such frequently asked questions as "How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google?".
Also, be sure to refer to our past posts about Google Sitemaps, which allows webmasters to give Google information about their sites so that we may index them effectively.
Mac Gmail Notifier update
It's high time for us to release a small update for our Gmail Notifier for Mac (OS X). We've added a few things of our own and got some ideas from users too. Some of the changes are:
- it's a universal binary, so it will run natively on PowerPC and Intel Macs;
- it will notify you when a new version is available and automatically upgrade itself; and...drum roll, please...
- it has new icons (we know it's what you've asked for!).
Hot in Miami, freezing in Hanover
Remember that bathing suit example from yesterday's post? Well, between the recent vernal equinox and writing about search trends on the keyword 'bathing suit,' we got to thinking...
While it might be a great time to promote a spring bathing suit sale in Miami, where today's high is 85 degrees, people bundled up in winter clothes in 33 degree Hanover, New Hamphire may not quite be thinking summer on the beach.
If the product you're selling will be received differently in different locales, you might want to think about tailoring the message of your AdWords ads accordingly. Running with the bathing suit example, you could target one campaign to warm coastal states (such as Florida) with ad text similar to the following:
Bathing Suit Sale
Spring's here! Get ready for summer
Shop our huge selection of suits
www.example.com
Because AdWords allows you to customize your ad text, you could change the message slightly for another campaign targeting cold states in the Northeast:
Sick of the cold?
Start getting ready for summer with
our huge bathing suit sale!
www.example.com
And the possibilities for ad text customization don't stop there. Once summer arrives, you could change your ad text to be more appropriate for the summer season. At that point, something like this might work:
Summer Swimwear
Look great on the beach in summer's
hottest trends - don't miss out!
www.example.com
Remember, users visit your site when they are interested in what your ad text offers. By making the connection between your target audience, your ad, and your site as seamless as possible, you'll be most likely to turn users into customers.
While it might be a great time to promote a spring bathing suit sale in Miami, where today's high is 85 degrees, people bundled up in winter clothes in 33 degree Hanover, New Hamphire may not quite be thinking summer on the beach.
If the product you're selling will be received differently in different locales, you might want to think about tailoring the message of your AdWords ads accordingly. Running with the bathing suit example, you could target one campaign to warm coastal states (such as Florida) with ad text similar to the following:
Bathing Suit Sale
Spring's here! Get ready for summer
Shop our huge selection of suits
www.example.com
Because AdWords allows you to customize your ad text, you could change the message slightly for another campaign targeting cold states in the Northeast:
Sick of the cold?
Start getting ready for summer with
our huge bathing suit sale!
www.example.com
And the possibilities for ad text customization don't stop there. Once summer arrives, you could change your ad text to be more appropriate for the summer season. At that point, something like this might work:
Summer Swimwear
Look great on the beach in summer's
hottest trends - don't miss out!
www.example.com
Remember, users visit your site when they are interested in what your ad text offers. By making the connection between your target audience, your ad, and your site as seamless as possible, you'll be most likely to turn users into customers.
Spring is the season for love (and data)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote, "In the Spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." In the spring at Google, a geek's fancy turns to thoughts of ... charts and data. So to mark this vernal equinox, we introduce to you Google Finance.
It all started as a small project led by a few engineers in Bangalore and later joined by more engineers and finance enthusiasts in Mountain View and New York . We have different backgrounds, work in different time zones, and, at the start of this project, had never met in person. But we shared the same goal: to improve the search experience for financial information. We hope Google Finance lives up to that aim by offering a fresh perspective on company-related searches. To begin with, you no longer have to remember a ticker or mutual fund symbol. Just search for a company or mutual fund by name and you'll quickly see all the relevant information.
But perhaps Google Finance's most important innovations take place after you've found the company in question. You'll find interactive charts that enable you to zoom through different time periods, headlines mapped right on the charts and are based on Google News, which means you're seeing unbiased and relevant results from more than 4,500 English-language news sources. And you'll get insightful comments from bloggers about public and private companies, plus Discussion Groups moderated by enthusiastic community advocates, which should foster some quality exchanges about the companies you care about.
Google Finance is an early-stage beta product. We hope to expand and improve this service over time, and your feedback will be a big part of that. So do let us know what you think.
Keyword Tool: global trends and other new features
To improve the tools that help you make smarter keyword selections, we recently added some new features to the Keyword Tool. Here's Ann-Lee, from that team, with a quick update:
Be sure to try out these new additions -- and as always, feel free to let us know what features you'd like to see in the Keyword Tool in the future.
We hope that you're finding the recently added search performance data useful, because we've added even more! You can now review global traffic trends (all languages, all countries) along with search volume for all your potential keywords (same languages and countries). For example, for the keyword 'bathing suits' you'll see how search volume varies each month for the last 12 months as well as which month (June -- no surprise!) saw the highest volume.
You can access this feature from the AdWords home page as well as from within your account.
We've also added the option to add keywords of any match type, including negative keywords, directly to any Ad Group. We hope that these improvements to the Keyword Tool make your keyword performance estimates easier to understand and use.
Be sure to try out these new additions -- and as always, feel free to let us know what features you'd like to see in the Keyword Tool in the future.
Judge tells DoJ "No" on search queries
Google will not have to hand over any user's search queries to the government. That's what a federal judge ruled today when he decided to drastically limit a subpoena issued to Google by the Department of Justice. (You can read the entire ruling here and the government's original subpoena here.)
The government's original request demanded billions of URLs and two month's worth of users' search queries. Google resisted the subpoena, prompting the judge's order today. In addition to excluding search queries from the subpoena, Judge James Ware also required the government to limit its demand for URLs to 50,000. We will fully comply with the judge's order.
This is a clear victory for our users and for our company, and Judge Ware's decision regarding search queries is especially important. While privacy was not the most significant legal issue in this case (because the government wasn't asking for personally identifiable information), privacy was perhaps the most significant to our users. As we noted in our briefing to the court, we believe that if the government was permitted to require Google to hand over search queries, that could have undermined confidence that our users have in our ability to keep their information private. Because we resisted the subpoena, the Department of Justice will not receive any search queries and only a small fraction of the URLs it originally requested.
We will always be subject to government subpoenas, but the fact that the judge sent a clear message about privacy is reassuring. What his ruling means is that neither the government nor anyone else has carte blanche when demanding data from Internet companies. When a party resists an overbroad subpoena, our legal process can be an effective check on such demands and be a protector of our users.
'My Account' tab temporarily inaccessible
In honor of St. Patrick's day, we turned a quick notice from our tech team into a limerick:
We're doing some work on your billing pages,
So you won't be able to see them (but not for ages!),
Said our tech team, "Hang tight!
From 7 to 10 tonight
While we improve the system in stages."
And in case that isn't clear, here's the original message:
As always, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We're doing some work on your billing pages,
So you won't be able to see them (but not for ages!),
Said our tech team, "Hang tight!
From 7 to 10 tonight
While we improve the system in stages."
And in case that isn't clear, here's the original message:
The pages under the 'My Account' tab will be unavailable tonight, Friday March 17th, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm PST for system maintenance. You'll still be able to log into your accounts during this time, but you won't be able to view invoices, change your billing address, or update your credit card during this maintenance period. Rest assured, however, that your campaigns will continue to run normally.
As always, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Creating new campaigns just got easier
Have you ever wished you could build a new campaign by copying the settings from an existing campaign? If so, then you'll be excited to hear about the new one-page campaign setup feature. Here's Jon D. from the Campaign Management team with more info:
Try it out and let us know what you think!
Next time you create a new keyword-targeted campaign, keep an eye out for the yellow box at the top of the page (see screenshot below so you'll know what it looks like).
Simply selecting one of your existing campaigns from this new drop-down menu will allow you to create a brand new campaign pre-configured with many of the advanced settings from your existing campaign.
Try it out and let us know what you think!
Courtside seats, without the court... or the seat
Starting today you can get up-to-the-minute sports scores and schedules using Google SMS on your mobile device. Just text message a school or team name to 46645 (GOOGL). "Why?" you ask? Because:
- The big game is on tonight, and while your cable was cut 3 weeks ago, you've still got a recliner couch and a pair of battle-worn, nacho cheese-stained text messaging thumbs
- Your newly purchased tickets make the nosebleeds feel like a fireside chat, and you lent your binoculars to your ornithologist cousin
- You recently secured a new job, and you need to look like you're preoccupied with important business at all times
- The love of your life dragged you to the ballet on game day, and made you leave your 60-inch liquid crystal TV at home
- It's time for your family reunion (and the playoffs) again, and you don't have the heart to tell your relatives that you majored in basket... weaving
- The restraining order filed against you by multiple sports professionals mandates that you find a way to "look but not touch"
- When it comes to your personal sports soundtrack, you prefer the Crazy Frog to the National Anthem
- You've developed an allergic reaction to commercial time-outs (or even commercials, for that matter)
- It's triple over time, and your too-cute-to-say-no nephew wants pizza from a restaurant six blocks from the stadium
- The BIG DANCE!
Even small changes need review
In our continued effort to shed some light on common AdWords misconceptions, let's take a look at another frequently misunderstood nuance, using this paraphrased advertiser email as a starting point:
So, why did this happen? Most advertisers are aware that while new ads may run on Google.com rather quickly, they must be reviewed and approved before they may be sent to our search and/or content networks. However, it's not so well understood that editing an existing ad, even if the change is very small, will also require review and approval before the ad may be once again sent to the networks.
Why is this so? Changing a single word (or sometimes even a single letter!) can give a line of text an entirely different meaning. With this in mind, and to ensure that we're delivering appropriate and high quality ads to our search and content networks, even these tiny changes need to be reviewed.
Here's a bonus tip to consider the next time you wish to edit an ad that is already appearing on the networks (it's used by many an expert advertiser):
Rather than editing an ad, consider leaving that ad as-is -- and then create a second ad (with your desired changes) in the same Ad Group as the original ad. Then, let both ads run until the new ad has been reviewed and approved. At this point, if it turns out that the new ad is performing better than the original, it may be time to delete the original.
We run an ad in the content network that normally gets a huge number of impressions daily. However we made a very minor change to the ad and now it is getting 0 impressions in the content network. Why did this happen? We really need this ad displayed in content, and not being there has reduced our sales dramatically! - Confused and curious.
So, why did this happen? Most advertisers are aware that while new ads may run on Google.com rather quickly, they must be reviewed and approved before they may be sent to our search and/or content networks. However, it's not so well understood that editing an existing ad, even if the change is very small, will also require review and approval before the ad may be once again sent to the networks.
Why is this so? Changing a single word (or sometimes even a single letter!) can give a line of text an entirely different meaning. With this in mind, and to ensure that we're delivering appropriate and high quality ads to our search and content networks, even these tiny changes need to be reviewed.
Here's a bonus tip to consider the next time you wish to edit an ad that is already appearing on the networks (it's used by many an expert advertiser):
Rather than editing an ad, consider leaving that ad as-is -- and then create a second ad (with your desired changes) in the same Ad Group as the original ad. Then, let both ads run until the new ad has been reviewed and approved. At this point, if it turns out that the new ad is performing better than the original, it may be time to delete the original.
Stay in Ctrl Ctrl
Three months ago, I came up with an idea that makes it easier for users to find what they're looking for: a search box in the middle of the desktop. It's very accessible -- all you have to do is press your Ctrl key twice. After some experimentation, people are telling us they like it and use it. That's why we're adding it to Google Desktop (coming out of beta today). Give the Quick Search Box a try. We hope you find it handy.
Invalid click credits
Last week, we answered some common questions about invalid click activity. One question we didn't cover was how we reimburse advertisers affected by invalid activity. Chris, from the Click Quality team, has this info:
As we mentioned in last week's post, if you see suspicious activity on your AdWords account and would like to request a review of clicks within the past 60 days that you believe may be invalid, you can submit them for review here.
In addition to our automatic filters (which will catch and discard the vast majority of invalid clicks), our team proactively identifies invalid activity that may not have been automatically filtered and credits advertisers accordingly. These credits used to appear on your Billing Summary page as 'Service Adjustments.' In the interest of transparency, all credits, past and future, for invalid click activity are now labeled 'Adjustment - Click Quality.'
You may notice these credits appearing more frequently as we work hard to ensure that this advertising budget is returned to affected advertisers as quickly as possible.
As we mentioned in last week's post, if you see suspicious activity on your AdWords account and would like to request a review of clicks within the past 60 days that you believe may be invalid, you can submit them for review here.
A new home for @Last Software
I was sitting at the breakfast table this morning, drinking a cup of coffee while I looked out at the snow. It was pretty much like any other winter morning, except — it wasn’t. When I went to sleep last night, I was employed by a small start-up called @Last Software. This morning, although I’m going to the same office, sitting at the same desk, and seeing the same people, I’m going to work as a Google employee. (Here’s the official announcement.)
As I sipped my coffee, I thought of a fellow I met on the last day of Macworld in January. It was six minutes before the end of the show when he walked into our booth. He had never seen SketchUp before. I started to give him a demo to give him an idea of what the software can do and how it works. Two or three minutes in, he interrupted me. “Can I buy a copy of SketchUp now?” I said sure. Then: “How about two?” No problem, I said.
It’s often like that. People see SketchUp and they love it. Now that we’re part of Google, how many of those ah-ha moments will happen every day? Already we’ve had hundreds of users create 3D content in SketchUp and place their models in Google Earth. (A free plug-in enables you to do this.) What will that virtual world look like when tens of thousands of users are doing the same?
Our little company was founded six years ago with the grand vision of bringing 3D to everyone; now that goal is truly within reach. No second cup of coffee for me — contemplating the possibilities is exciting enough.
Sketchup already has a plug in that allows you to export 3D models into Google Earth. If you've got Google Earth (you do, right?), then check out a few 3D examples (these are KMZ files):
Statue of Liberty
SketchUp headquarters
Google Mountain View campus
It costs $495, but we’d like everyone to have a SketchUp experience, so you can download a free 8-hour trial version here.
AdWords 101: the building blocks of AdWords
Since the inception of Inside AdWords, we've been fortunate to receive a lot of feedback from our advertisers on how the blog has helped them use AdWords more effectively. One consistent piece of feedback from our newer advertisers is that they'd like us to provide more tips for AdWords beginners. Well, we've heard you loud and clear and today, we're beginning a new regular series called "AdWords 101", where we'll start from the beginning and help our novice advertisers learn more about how to get the most of our their campaigns.
For this inaugural AdWords 101 lesson, we'd like to talk about account structure, which can be thought of as the building blocks of a successful AdWords account. To better explain, we've borrowed a diagram from the AdWords Learning Center:
As you can see, your billing information is stored at the account level, along with your email address and password. An account can be made up of one or more campaigns; daily budgets, targeting and distribution preferences, and start and end dates are all controlled at the campaign level. Within each campaign, you have Ad Groups which contain your ad text and keywords.
Newer advertisers often think that it's best to fill one single Ad Group with multiple ad texts and as many keywords as possible in order to keep account management simple. In practice, however, it is much more effective to create multiple Ad Groups so that you can create targeted ad text for a specific group of keywords.
For example, let's say you sell candy and chocolates. Instead of having one Ad Group with keywords such as candy, chocolate bars, lollipops, truffles, gumdrops, taffy and one generic ad about both candy and chocolate, try splitting up your keywords into separate Ad Groups such as:
Ad Group #1: Novelty Candy
Keywords: gumdrops, taffy, jawbreakers, lollipops
Ad Group #2: Chocolate
Keywords: truffles, dark chocolate, gourmet chocolate, chocolate bars
Ad Group #3: Online Sweets Store
Keywords: online chocolate store, online candy store, mail order candy, mail order chocolate
This way, you can write targeted ad text for each of your Ad Groups that refer specifically to the topic of the Ad Group. This setup also allows you to track your campaigns more effectively because you can see which type of ad text drives more sales to your business -- do you get more clicks and sales from candy ads or chocolate ads?
Homework: to learn more about how to set up your account more effectively, check out these resources in the AdWords Learning and Help Centers.
Learning Center
Help Center - FAQ
That's all for the first session of AdWords 101. Stay tuned for more lessons, which will put you on the path to advertiser success!
For this inaugural AdWords 101 lesson, we'd like to talk about account structure, which can be thought of as the building blocks of a successful AdWords account. To better explain, we've borrowed a diagram from the AdWords Learning Center:
As you can see, your billing information is stored at the account level, along with your email address and password. An account can be made up of one or more campaigns; daily budgets, targeting and distribution preferences, and start and end dates are all controlled at the campaign level. Within each campaign, you have Ad Groups which contain your ad text and keywords.
Newer advertisers often think that it's best to fill one single Ad Group with multiple ad texts and as many keywords as possible in order to keep account management simple. In practice, however, it is much more effective to create multiple Ad Groups so that you can create targeted ad text for a specific group of keywords.
For example, let's say you sell candy and chocolates. Instead of having one Ad Group with keywords such as candy, chocolate bars, lollipops, truffles, gumdrops, taffy and one generic ad about both candy and chocolate, try splitting up your keywords into separate Ad Groups such as:
Ad Group #1: Novelty Candy
Keywords: gumdrops, taffy, jawbreakers, lollipops
Ad Group #2: Chocolate
Keywords: truffles, dark chocolate, gourmet chocolate, chocolate bars
Ad Group #3: Online Sweets Store
Keywords: online chocolate store, online candy store, mail order candy, mail order chocolate
This way, you can write targeted ad text for each of your Ad Groups that refer specifically to the topic of the Ad Group. This setup also allows you to track your campaigns more effectively because you can see which type of ad text drives more sales to your business -- do you get more clicks and sales from candy ads or chocolate ads?
Homework: to learn more about how to set up your account more effectively, check out these resources in the AdWords Learning and Help Centers.
Learning Center
Help Center - FAQ
That's all for the first session of AdWords 101. Stay tuned for more lessons, which will put you on the path to advertiser success!
Mars attracts
We here on Earth have long held a fascination with the planet Mars. From Percival Lowell's sketches of its surface, to the countless books and movies that revolve around it, we've spent millenia studying and day-dreaming about our nearest neighbor in the solar system.
In that tradition, NASA researchers Noel Gorelick and Michael Weiss-Malik from Arizona State University worked with us to combine Google Maps technology with some of the most detailed scientific maps of Mars ever made.
In commemoration of Lowell's birthday, we're pleased to bring you Google Mars. Explore the red planet in three different ways: an elevation map shows color-coded peaks and valleys, a visible-imagery map shows what your eyes would actually see, and an infrared-imagery map shows the detail your eyes would miss.
We hope you enjoy your trip to Mars.
Pug-speak
Unlike some others, I may be a small dog, but size is just a state of mind: My Google job is as important as anyone else's. After my morning nap at the office, I go out on hall monitor duty. This involves watching everyone who walks by our cube and getting some nice massages from passers-by. Some of the Googlers even know my language. For example, Jonathan Rosenberg is fluent in Pug, and loves to converse with me whenever we run into each other. And I get to play with plenty of dogs here: labs, doxies, tollers, and even some fellow pugs. Then there are occasional runs to the nearby Shoreline Dog Park.
Between the two, Google is my favorite place to be. Just as Google engineers get 20% of their time for their own projects, I have mine: at least a day a week I'm the resident court jester. It's not very hard to entertain Googlers -- everyone seems to get a kick out of me. If I had a nickel for every time someone laughed or smiled at me, I'd be running the company. And then I'd put bins of biscuits in each Google mini-kitchen.
New demographic site selection
Looking to show your ads primarily to college age men? Or perhaps you want to focus your advertising budget on parents in their thirties who have a lot of disposable income? If so, you'll be happy to hear that the site tool now provides demographic site selection for advertisers who are targeting users in the United States.
How does this work? We're using comScore Media Metrix panel data to help you find sites in the Google network that have a high audience-base composition of the demographic profile you would like to reach. You can select from 22 demographic options to create the profile of your ideal customer. Use this in conjunction with site URLs and site topics, in our newly updated site tool, to reach more of your target customers.
So, the next time you want to target your ads by gender, age, ethnicity, annual household income, or children in the house, look no further than the site tool for suggestions.
How does this work? We're using comScore Media Metrix panel data to help you find sites in the Google network that have a high audience-base composition of the demographic profile you would like to reach. You can select from 22 demographic options to create the profile of your ideal customer. Use this in conjunction with site URLs and site topics, in our newly updated site tool, to reach more of your target customers.
So, the next time you want to target your ads by gender, age, ethnicity, annual household income, or children in the house, look no further than the site tool for suggestions.
Writely so
For the last five months, I've been part of a Silicon Valley startup called Upstartle, which makes Writely, a collaborative word processor that runs in a web browser. Well, as of Monday, I'm happy to say that I, and the rest of the Writely team, are now part of Google.
The other night, I was talking to my husband about how nervous I was to be starting work there. Truth be told, we've all been pretty overwhelmed for the past few weeks. What could our little team possibly do that's innovative enough? And he said, "Hello? You already did it!" It's true -- everyone told us it was crazy to try and give people a way to access their documents from anywhere -- not to mention share documents instantly, or collaborate online within their browsers. But that's exactly what we did. And since we launched the Writely beta in August 2005, many thousands of people have registered, and all of them came through word of mouth (and blog).
To be clear, Writely is still in beta, and it's far from perfect. Upholding our great user experience means everything to us, so we're not accepting new registrations until we've moved Writely to Google's software architecture. If you're interested in giving us a try, we hope you'll get on the waitlist so we can let you know when you'll be able to try out Writely.
Quick system maintenance Friday evening
This just in:
On March 10, 2006, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. PST due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log in during this brief period, your campaigns will continue to run normally. We apologize for any inconvenience.
On March 10, 2006, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. PST due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log in during this brief period, your campaigns will continue to run normally. We apologize for any inconvenience.
About invalid clicks
For some time, we’ve provided information for advertisers about invalid clicks on the AdWords site here. We thought the notice of today’s invalid click settlement might prompt some additional questions about this issue, so we had Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, address them.
What is click fraud? I often hear the term “invalid clicks,” too. What’s the difference -- or are they the same?
The term "fraud" implies deliberate deception. Our aim in fighting invalid clicks is broader and includes clicks that we suspect may have been deceptive or malicious, as well as clicks that we deem invalid for other reasons, such as accidental double clicking on an ad. The usage of the word "fraud" in this context has caused a great deal of confusion, as it's practically impossible to "prove" that an impression or click was caused by deliberate deception. Our servers can accurately count clicks on ads, but we cannot know what the intent of a clicking user was when they made that click. When we identify a click as invalid, it simply means a click we won't charge for, in order to deliver the best ROI to advertisers.
Why not say more about the specific methods used to identify invalid clicks?
There are many things we do to detect invalid clicks, including looking at duplicate IP addresses, user session information, network information, geo-targeting and browser information. These are all important signals for detecting invalid clicks.
The technology we use to detect invalid clicks is highly sophisticated and was developed by some of the world's leading experts -- PhDs in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and statistics. We’re reluctant to share more about our technology and methods, however, because doing so would make it easier for fraudsters to try to defeat our systems.
How big a problem is invalid click activity?
We take it very seriously and have devoted significant resources and some of our best talent to this. By far, most of the invalid clicks we see are detected and discarded by our automatic filters even before they reach advertisers accounts. If an advertiser is monitoring click activity, these automatically filtered clicks may show up in an advertiser's logs, but not in their bills. When invalid clicks are detected after an advertiser is charged, we reimburse for them. Because of our detection efforts, losses to advertisers from invalid clicks are very small.
But don't advertisers report invalid clicks to Google which weren't detected in advance?
We do receive reports from advertisers and we look at them very closely. When we believe those clicks are invalid, we reimburse advertisers for them. Some invalid clicks do make it through our filters, but we believe the amount is very small.
Also, we often find that the clicks are legitimate, but from unexpected sources such as broader targets the advertiser has set up for their campaign. And, as I mentioned earlier, some of the invalid clicks advertisers see in logs are clicks we've already caught, discarded and not charged. Most investigations we conduct concerning invalid clicks are cleared up with the advertiser after explaining the source of the traffic increase or showing them that the clicks were never charged.
Does Google have an incentive to allow some amount of fraud because it means more revenue?
Actually, it is the opposite of that. We have much more of an incentive to do a better job of handling invalid clicks than our competitors -- and we believe we do. Fighting invalid clicks aggressively is in Google's best interest and essential for us to maintain a viable business. In addition, we offer free tools to advertisers so they can monitor their return on investment -- which is a helpful way to determine whether too many clicks coming through are not resulting in sales. Those free tools help advertisers manage to a bottom line value of their ads.
Some people suggest that click fraud may account for as much as 30 percent of traffic -- what do you say to that?
We believe the methodology behind that particular estimate is flawed -- and that many who have cited the figure have done so irresponsibly by using it differently than it is characterized in the report.
Here's a link to a .pdf version of the study where that figure originated. We encourage you to read the report and evaluate it yourself. Some things we think you will see that undercut those who use this estimate carelessly:
Even the report does not say that click fraud is 30% of all clicks. What it does say is that of three ad campaigns (only three ad campaigns were examined in this study), evaluated over a ten day period, one had questionable clicks of 8%, another 10% and a third 30%.
So, the 30% figure comes from analysis of a *single* ad campaign, not a study of many. This means that the figure of 30% that is used to characterize click fraud for the whole search and advertising industry comes from the analysis of *one* ad campaign looked at for ten days. Even in that campaign, it is not clear what methodology they used to determine which clicks are "bad" and it is possible that they marked legitimate clicks as "duplicate."
Moreover, the study does not indicate whether the advertiser was actually charged for any of the clicks, only that the traffic analysis suggested that the clicks may have been invalid. As I mentioned above, it’s very possible that clicks recorded in an advertiser's logs have already been caught by Google’s detection systems and not charged. (I should also note that when invalid clicks are detected and discarded before they are charged to an advertiser they are also not recorded as revenue.)
When considering the validity of this exaggerated 30% figure, you should also consider who is most aggressively using it: it is those who have the most to gain from hyping the problem. Those who are throwing around this figure are doing so as part of their marketing efforts to sell products they claim detect click fraud. The more they can convince others that click fraud is a problem, the more they hope to see increased sales. In other words, these companies have a huge financial incentive to make people believe invalid clicks are a larger problem than they really are.
What else on this topic should we be aware of?
Whether it’s online or offline, advertising should be about ROI and results. It is in our interest to serve the interests of our advertisers, which means delivering superior ROI. Our efforts to combat invalid clicks are an essential part of that.
What we have seen so far is that advertisers continually increase the amount of money they spend, which suggests that they are pleased with the return delivered by their ads. We encourage advertisers to track ROI and contact us when they see something that doesn't appear to add up. If you see suspicious activity on your AdWords account, please contact our click quality team.
Update: Lane’s Gifts v. Google
You may remember that last February, Google was sued in Arkansas over what is commonly called click fraud. We’re very near a resolution in that case, so we thought we’d offer an update.
We’ve been discussing the case with the plaintiffs for some time and have recently come to an agreement with them which we believe is a good outcome for everyone involved. As a result, Google and the plaintiffs are going to ask the judge to approve the settlement, which would resolve the case.
Until the settlement is approved by the judge, it is not final. And the details are confidential, but will become public when it is formally filed for the judge’s consideration. However, we can share the major pieces of our proposed agreement.
Google currently allows advertisers to apply for reimbursement for clicks they believe are invalid. They can do this for clicks that happen during the 60 days prior to notifying Google. Under the agreement with the plaintiffs, we are going to open up that window for all advertisers, regardless of when the questionable clicks occurred. For all eligible invalid clicks, we will offer credits which can be used to purchase new advertising with Google. We do not know how many will apply and receive credits, but under the agreement, the total amount of credits, plus attorneys fees, will not exceed $90 million.
This agreement covers all advertisers who claim to have been charged but not reimbursed for invalid clicks dating from 2002 when we launched our “cost per click” advertising program through the date the settlement is approved by the judge.
For the finance folks out there wondering how we’ll account for this, we can say that the attorneys’ fees (which will be determined by the judge) will be charged as an expense, most likely in the first quarter, once the amount is determined. The credits will be recorded as a reduction to revenue in periods in which they are redeemed.
We have said for some time that we believe we manage the problem of invalid clicks very well. We have a large team of expert engineers and analysts devoted to it. By far, most invalid clicks are caught by our automatic filters and discarded *before* they reach an advertiser’s bill. And for the clicks that are not caught in advance, advertisers can notify Google and ask for reimbursement. We investigate those clicks, and if we determine they were invalid, we reimburse advertisers for them. We will continue to do that, and believe that this settlement is further proof of our willingness to work together with advertisers to reimburse invalid clicks.
You can find more information on invalid clicks and how we manage them here or here.
Update: Added second link to more information.
A real find
As a librarian and a Googler, I love the "Find it in a library" links we've added to many -- but not yet all -- of the titles in Google Book Search. While we work on getting these links rolled out for the rest of the books, at least one user has taken matters into his own hands: "Superpatron" Edward Vielmetti has written a Greasemonkey script for Firefox that enables him to see which books are available at his local library.
Since Google Book Search is all about helping you discover and locate books you never knew existed, it's especially gratifying to see people like Ed embracing and extending this mission.
Google News Israel
We're launching Google News in Hebrew! Google News Israel aggregates articles across Hebrew-language newspapers and presents them side by side so you can read what all of them are saying in one view. It's been fun and challenging to create this edition, having to accommodate text that reads right to left, and adjusting our algorithms to work with a whole new set of papers. It's also a pleasure to be launching Google News for a whole new audience, and we look forward to bringing it to even more people around the world. Meanwhile, with the recent opening of our Israeli office, we look forward to offering many more products to our friends there.
Search your site
You know that AdWords can be a great way to drive targeted traffic to your site. But what happens after users arrive there? If you have multiple products for sale or a significant collection of content, it's likely that visitors to your site rely on search to find what they want.
How's your site search? Studies show that most users (85%!) can't find what they're looking for through site searches, and they tend to go elsewhere if a site's search functionality doesn't return relevant results.
So, what can you do about it? This week, the Google Enterprise team launched a lower-cost version of the Google Mini that indexes up to 50,000 documents. If AdWords get users to your site, the Mini helps ensure people have the best experience once they're there by making your site as easy to search as Google.com. Also, be sure to check out the customer map to see what other users are saying about the Mini.
How's your site search? Studies show that most users (85%!) can't find what they're looking for through site searches, and they tend to go elsewhere if a site's search functionality doesn't return relevant results.
So, what can you do about it? This week, the Google Enterprise team launched a lower-cost version of the Google Mini that indexes up to 50,000 documents. If AdWords get users to your site, the Mini helps ensure people have the best experience once they're there by making your site as easy to search as Google.com. Also, be sure to check out the customer map to see what other users are saying about the Mini.
Robots and writers and Googlers, oh my!
One of the great things about working at Google is, well, not always working at Google. Is launch planning stressing you out? Are you obsessing about bugs? Can't find your favorite obscure beverage at the mini-kitchen? Every day, and usually more than once a day, the Googleplex offers talks that serve as excellent (and educational) distractions from the daily grind. These talks can help us learn more about the things we're doing, or help stoke our interest in something new.
Now, with Google Video, we finally have the opportunity to share many of these "from the Googleplex" presentations with the world. They include our Authors@Google talks (don't miss "How to survive a robot uprising" author Daniel Wilson) and the regular engEDU tech talks. Grab coffee and get comfy for this one on "Scalable Learning and Inference in Hierarchical Models of the Neocortex," for example.
Of course, you can access them all on your own schedule. And if you want to see them in person, feel free to check out our recruiting video.
Use Google Video to showcase your products
Recently, we had the chance to catch up with one of the original Inside AdWords bloggers, Jon, to learn more about his new role on the Google Video team. After reminiscing about the old days as part of the Inside AdWords crew, he shared his insights on how Video can also benefit advertisers:
After spending a year learning the ins and outs of AdWords, even though I now work on Video, I often see things from the advertiser perspective. I always loved reading stories from advertisers who had used AdWords to help their businesses become more successful. The surprising thing about Video has been that we get the same type of letters. So here are some things that people have done on Video to help their businesses become successful.
For advertisers with video content, Google Video is a great way to expand your reach into an entirely new segment of the online community. If you have commercials or demos of your product that you'd like the world to see, you can upload your videos now (for free!). As with all things Google, you'll be able to monitor your stats, which are fully broken out for you within your Video account. That way, you can see the results and know exactly how many times a specific piece of content was watched. And, if you really want to improve coverage, you also have the option of embedding the streaming videos on your site, with no download required for your users -- you just copy the 'put on site' code.
If you're selling videos on your site, you can use streaming to provide users with a preview. Use the power of motion -- add an embedded live demo -- to sell a product that words and pictures can't describe. Or, share that funny branding video with the world by placing it in our index. The opportunities are out there; as always, let us know what your experiences are, so we can continue to make Google Video even more useful to you.
The littlest Mini
The Google Mini search appliance continues to proliferate for different customer segments. The newest and least expensive Mini is geared towards people who need to search up to 50,000 documents on their websites or corporate networks. Does that include you? Read more here.
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