Google News Roundup
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Google is having a busy December. Amid the rumors and the product introductions, here are just four news items that seem to stand out. Each topic highlights an important direction or issue for the online search giant.
I'll start with one for the advertisers - or, more precisely, those who might consider advertising on Google if they had a web site. Most AdWords ads point to a web site, which leaves many small local businesses out in the cold. If you're spending all your time (and most of your money) trying to keep your restaurant or hardware store running, you don't have the time to build a web site or money to pay someone else to do it. But many web sites, including Google, have been improving local searches, so this would be a great way to get spotted by local prospective customers. What can you do?
Google has an answer. It's offering free web hosting to businesses that sign up for AdWords Starter Edition. You won't be getting a full-fledged web site, which is probably a relief to business owners who didn't have the time to build one in the first place. It's a single page, which will act as the landing page for your AdWords ad. You can include some simple information like your address, phone number, and any special services.
Google's Inside AdWords blog depicts a sample page for the fictitious company "Mario Loves Pasta, Inc." It includes the company name, address, two phone numbers (main phone and fax), an email address with Google's GMaill service (nice product placement there!), business hours, credit cards accepted, a sizable paragraph that describes the company, and an image. No knowledge of HTML is required to set up a hosted business page with Google.
It's important to keep in mind, though, that "hosted business pages are accessible only through links on AdWords ads," so someone searching specifically for your company may not find it in Google Search results. Still, it's a good move for Google in its efforts to reach anyone and everyone who might be interested in search engine advertising.
It also builds on Google's efforts to make it easy to advertise with it, and it might give the search engine even more of an edge on search. Think about it: these small, local businesses would sign up for this service because they don't have web sites - and if they don't have web sites, how are MSN, Yahoo, and other search engines going to index them? It's a great way for Google to deliver more, and more relevant, results to searchers, even if they only show up in the sponsored links.
Next: YouTube-Related Rumors >>
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