Google's search ads arrive on iPhone, G1

Google now can show search ads on the iPhone's browser.

(Credit: Google)

The iPhone and T-Mobile G1 come with pretty much full-fledged Web browsers, and Google now is according them that status by showing search ads on the phones.

Advertisers bidding for search ads through Google's AdWords service now can choose to have ad campaigns run exclusively on iPhones and the T-Mobile G1, the first phone with Google's Android operating system, which also has a robust browser. Alexandra Kenin, product marketing manager for Google's mobile ads team, announced the move on the company's Google Mobile Blog Monday.

By using the "iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers" option in AdWords, advertisers also can exclude this class of devices from their ad campaigns, Kenin said.

Unlike with display ads on mobile devices, search ads work the same. "Because the G1 and iPhone has full Internet browsers, you'll be able to display your standard AdWords ads and landing pages on these devices without having to modify them," Kenin said.

[commsoft]

This is a horrible move and dramatically reduces the usefulness of the search function in the browser.

Mobile devices do not have screen real estate to spare for ads which often have nothing to do with what you're searching for.

Guess it's time to switch my default iPhone browser from Google to Yahoo...

[jackdaniels08]

This is a great idea. As long as it is quality targeted and relevant it should be just find, in fact a plus. If I Google 'pizza', and Google also knows my location, I may get a pizza ad that is offering coupons in the area.

[celticbrewer]

I have to wonder what advertisers would be interested in that niche.

Unless google was to provide an approximate location of where the user was, of course. Imagine searching for uhmm... "Twilight" and an ad pops up for the nearest movie theater. Or "restaurant" and there's the local sushi-ya.

Otherwise, only phone accessory vendors and mobile app developers would bother targeting them- especially in this economy.

[jackdaniels08]

Advertisers who would be interested are those who are conveniently in the location you are currently googling in on your mobie phone at the moment. Targeted relevant ads matching your keyword search plus current convenient location you are presently in at the moment is the perfect Google Ad.

[mikeburek]

Well, it could be said that many iPhone users got their phone so they would be "cool" and so now it will be easy to target people who made their choice based just on what the trendy style is.

And you could say that maybe G1 users are more independent from "the man" and probably have an inclination for customizing through their own programming. So one of those companies that tries to consolidate small contract programming jobs might want to target G1 users to sign up, so that service can provide better talent, and sign up more clients looking for short-term programming projects.

Or there is just the general assumption that those who can afford the higher monthly prices of smart phone may have more disposable income.

[ihateadssomuch]

oh yippee, now i can surf AND be annoyed by more ads. thats what my internet experience lacks, a bombardment of crappy and annoying ads that halter your searches everywhere you go and block everything you really want to do. stupid stupid idea, doesnt google have enough $ already, sergey just went on a space vacation for chrissakes.
Im with commsoft, i just changed my iphone search to yahoo.

[mikeburek]

It's a good thing these phones don't support flash, or we'd have 50MB flash ads showing up every few minutes, and they would eat up the bandwidth, and, over time, use a significant part of the 5GB download cap.

[Shankland]

@mikeburek: At present at least, Google doesn't use Flash in its search ads, which are a few lines of text. You may find them intrusive all the same, but even on a eight-core workstation with a high-speed network Google's search ads are only text ads.

[Vegaman_Dan]

It's all about targeted advertising. Now that Google can tell what handset you're on, they can offer that service to advertisers.

From the end user's viewpoint, it only affects your results for the sponsored ads, which I admit, I completely and totally ignore in the first place.

[daridenus]

time to switch from Google to Yahoo on my iPhone.

Feel bad for all of the Android users - they are stuck with Google.

[jackdaniels08]

All the search engines are going to start doing it. If you think they all aren't then you are naive.

[davidmcelroy_dotmac]

The search is a free service for the user. Why would we not expect them to get money out of it if they can? I don't like it when ad content (especially the ugly animated kind on web pages) gets out of control, but this doesn't seem problematic to me in the least. It's a reasonable and obvious way for Google (and other search engines) to get paid for the services that we rely on.

[mikeburek]

Scrolling is pretty easy, so text ads won't be that annoying, and cause wasted time scrolling past them.

[davidsmi]

I think it is great. Show me things like COFFEE when I'm mobile - where as items like vacation can wait until I'm home!

[jackdaniels08]

If you Google COFFEE for example, a local Starbucks ad with a coupon might pop up in the local area you're in since your phone is also like a GPS device. Now that's cool!

[Michichael]

According to T-Mobile, there is no download cap, just an FYI.

Why don't they, instead of breaking more things, fix the AIM/YIM/MSN messengers so they you know.. work.

[t8]

Businesses make money. Do you work 40 hours a week for nothing?
Get real. Ads are the bread and butter for most Internet sites and companies.

[MeganLeap]

This is really exciting news for online marketers and the appropriate time to start creating mobile-optimized landing pages.

If you pay for a mobile click, but don't deliver a mobile-optimized experience, you're leaving conversions on the table and wasting your mobile ad spend.

I recently blogged about mobile-optimized landing pages, as well: http://www.ioninteractive.com/liveball-support-blog/2008/12/3/landing-page-tip-3-optimize-your-landing-pages-for-mobile-de.html

Cheers!

[commsoft]

In order to make this inoffensive, since such a huge percentage of sponsored links are usually totally irrelevant, you'd need a small, dedicated ad space on a dedicated search app to make this workable. Having half of your iPhone's screen wasted with irrelevant crap will make people stop using Google from mobile platforms altogether.