Is Google Going into the Classifieds Business? - Details of the Patent Application
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Google’s patent filing describes a “system and method for providing on-line user-assisted Web-based advertising.” In that sense, it sounds very much like Google AdWords and AdSense, but this system seems to be geared more to individuals advertising their “stuff” than to businesses seeking advertising for which they choose their own keywords. Here’s the abstract from the patent application:
“A system and method for providing on-line advertising is presented. An interface guiding on-line advertising is presented. An advertisement is created from at least one of user inputs and stored data and includes information describing at least one item. An advertising creative is generated in association with the advertisement and includes a hyperlink reference to the advertisement. The advertisement is hosted on-line as a Web page and the advertising creative is place on one or more targeted Web pages.”
So what does this mean, exactly? Basically, someone using this system will provide Google with information about an item they want to advertise, and the information will be stored in a Google database. From this information, Google will create an ad, and presumably handle the messy business of deciding what keywords will be connected with the ad. It sounds as if the ad itself will link to a web page – again, generated from the information the user provided – that provides more information about the item (here it’s important to distinguish between the “creative,” which is probably just a small AdWords-style ad, and the full-fledged advertisement, which would be the Web page).
Here’s where it gets interesting. The advertising creative will probably come up just like an AdWords ad on Google’s website – but it will also be hosted on other targeted web pages. In effect, this means that any site can host classified ads from Google, and it tremendously widens the range of competition for the companies mentioned earlier – Craigslist, eBay, and anyone else making money from classified advertising.
Remember Google Purchases and Google Base? The former will provide a way for individuals to pay for their ads, as well as receive payment for the item when it ultimately sells. The latter will help with storing advertisements, and making them more searchable – so in theory someone will actually be able to indicate that they are specifically looking for Google classified ads that try to market particular sorts of things (cars, jobs, used furniture, what have you). In short, all of the parts of the system are already in place, and very close to ready.
Next: Why is Google Doing This? >>
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