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Arrows point the way in a new look for Google ads

The Google Display Network is going in a bold new direction.

Google said today that text ads in its large display advertising network would be updated so that prominent right arrows are inserted into them every day. The point is to increase click-through rates, and Google says that early experiments have shown it working.

"These enhancements are among the largest that we have made to text ads, and our experiments indicate an uplift in clicks across publishers on the Google Display Network," the company said in a blog post.

The color of the arrow will vary depending on … Read more

Google's 'spring cleaning' hits features in search, news

Fall may have started, but Google's year-old "spring cleaning" is still ongoing.

That's the euphemism Google uses for products that it no longer plans to support.

Most of the changes announced today are minor, but a handful are of note to a wide swath of users:

Storage in Picasa and Drive will be consolidated so that free users have a combined 5GB across both services. And if you pay, you won't get the 5GB in addition to the amount you paid for. (In other words: pay for 100GB of storage, and 100GB … Read more

Yahoo to shutter AdSense clone at the end of April

Yahoo on Wednesday announced that it has decided to close the Yahoo Publisher Network, the company's answer to Google AdSense.

The Yahoo Publisher Network, an advertising platform enabling small Web publishers to place ads on their sites to drive revenue, will officially close on April 30. The service has been in beta testing since its launch nearly five years ago.

In an e-mail sent to Publisher Network users, Yahoo said users of its service might want to consider moving to Chitika, another ad platform that the company says serves more than "2 billion monthly impressions across more than … Read more

Google Friend Connect adds profiles, ads

Google Friend Connect is adding a few features that make it easier for Web site publishers to build their own social networks.

Visitors to Web sites that use Google Friend Connect will soon have the option of filling out a profile on that site that can connect them to like-minded individuals who frequent those sites. They can then search for other profiles on that site with matching tags, introduce themselves to those users through the site without having to post an e-mail address, and see content on the site tailored to their interests, said Mussie Shore, product manager for Google … Read more

Google now serving ads in iPhone Maps

Google updated AdSense this week, adding desktop-style ad support for high-end smartphones like the iPhone 3GS. The change led to Google's insertion of advertisements, alongside search results, into the iPhone Maps application.

Local iPhone map searches now display sponsored listings in the view and list modes of the Maps app.

We discovered examples of these ads on Monday, while searching for a Verizon Wireless store. We should also note that this is the first time ads have appeared within one of the iPhone's default apps, rather than in something we've downloaded for free or purchased from the App Store. Our search for "Verizon" resulted in the following list view:

Tapping the white arrow in the top blue circle brought us to the "Sponsored Link" screen, which contained some additional information about the business under its name emphasized in italics, such as phone number, Web address, and physical address. In addition, there are options to get directions to or from the business, add it to one's contacts, share it with others, or bookmark it.

More ads coming to mobiles via Google AdSense

The march of the ads from the PC to the smartphone took another step Monday with the launch of Google AdSense for high-end phones.

Web publishers can now design AdSense ads--groups of Google AdWords text ads displayed by third-party publishers on their Web sites--with the HTML browsers used by smartphones in mind, Google announced Monday in a blog post. Advertisers had been able to run smaller mobile ads that older mobile phone browsers could handle, but they'll now have an option of showing a more sophisticated ad on a more sophisticated browser like those used by the iPhone, the … Read more

Is Google Adsense good for Android?

Last week Google announced the beta version of Adsense for mobile applications. With this new service, developers will be able to better monetize their applications and games. What's more, the revenue generated should be enough to encourage developers into spending more time on their Android projects.

In order to qualify for the beta service, a developer's application must generate 100,000 impressions per day. The developers generate revenue based on the number of people who click on an advertisement they display. The click-through rate, or CTR, is often higher on mobile ad units because they are highly targeted … Read more

Google bringing AdSense to mobile apps

Android and iPhone developers looking for an extra source of revenue will soon have an advertising option, sponsored by Google.

Google's AdSense program--in which it sells and distributes ads to third-party publishers--is coming to mobile devices as a beta program, the company announced Wednesday. A small group of developers have been testing this program but now anyone can apply, said Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management, in a blog post.

Mobile apps are one of the hottest topics in software development these days, as Apple's App Store continues to grow and other developers roll out their … Read more

Analyst: Google will walk away from bad AdSense deals

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Are the days of silly AdSense deals with the likes of MySpace and AOL over for Google? Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay seems to think so. The analyst upped his price target to $600 for Google shares on the theory that the economy is rebounding and the search giant's revenue per click ratio will follow. Meanwhile, Google's profit margins are likely to go higher.

And Google's ability to walk away from high-cost AdSense deals are one reason those margins are headed higher. Lindsay writes in a research note: … Read more

Microsoft opens up its answer to Google AdSense

Microsoft on Wednesday opened its PubCenter advertising service up for public beta testing, providing more of an alternative to Google's AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network technology that places ads on publishers' sites.

All the services scrutinize the content on a Web site and place advertisements the service deems to be relevant to that content. As with ads on search sites, the advertiser pays only when a reader clicks on one of the ads, and revenue is shared with the publisher and the company operating the ad service.

Kevin McCabe, senior product manager of PubCenter, announced the move at the … Read more