Google Adsense Link Units Pages Now Showing Image Ads

The Google Adsense Blog reported that images ads (or banner ads) have now been added to Google Adsense link units pages. Link units are a form of Adsense that show a list of topics that are related to your page, instead of the standard text ads. The image ads that were added to these pages are contextually targeted and can be bid on at a CPC or CPM basis. They are shown at the bottom of the pages.

For advertisers heavily involved in banner advertising, this is a great new opportunity to explore.

Microsoft’s New Search Engine, Bing?

Back in April, I blogged about Microsoft Rebranding their Search Engine. Well, next week Microsoft is scheduled to launch this new search engine, rumored to be called Bing. Microsoft is planning on spending $80-$100 million promoting it through TV, print, and radio. This is a sizable marketing campaign, considering the fact that Google only spent $25 million on all their advertising last year.

In the meantime, Microsoft is going to unveil the revamped search engine at an industry event starting today in San Diego. At this event we will likely hear the confirmed name of the search engine. Microsoft plans to generate a lot of buzz about this new search engine, but will it really be able to directly compete with Google, the #1 search engine?

Check out Ask.com’s Homepage

Ask.com is sporting a new homepage skin today. When you go to ask.com, you will see a large ad for the latest Night at the Museum movie. According to Ask.com, this ad will be featured on their homepage for 2 days and is the result of a partnership between Ask and Fox.

I can only imagine how much money Google would make off of advertising on their homepage!

Doodle 4 Google Winner

Congratulations to Christin Engelberth, the winner of the Doodle 4 Google contest. Her doodle is featured today on the Google homepage.

Christin won some large prizes including a $15,000 college scholarship, a laptop, and a $25,000 technology grant for her middle school.

Almost 6 million people voted online for the contest, and this one seemed to convey the right message to American’s during this time of hardship. Christin’s doodle was titled “A new Beginning” and her wish was “out of the current crisis, discoveries will be found to help the Earth prosper once more.”

Wolfram|Alpha is Live

After much anticipation amongst SEO’s and active internet users, Wolfram Alpha has finally launched.

As stated on the search engine, “Wolfram|Alpha’s long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.”

I have been playing around with this search engine today and find it very cool. I have asked many questions and will share some of the data I have obtained. The first question I asked was: What is the weather in Fort Lauderdale? As you can see, I received the temperature and conditions, followed by graphs, then weather station information and comparisons. I found this information to be very beneficial.

I then typed in a math equation: 2345677/765. As you can see, they provided me with the answer to the question, and even offered to show me the steps on how to solve it! I wish this search engine would have been available when I was in high school or college!

This search engine appears to be very advanced. Since it is so new there are still some issues here and there, but overall I am impressed. Try it out and let me know your thoughts.

Google Rolls Out “Search Options”

On Tuesday Google rolled out a new feature which they call “Search Options.” This feature gives visitors the opportunity to narrow down their search to help them find exactly what they are looking for. Now, after you type in a query on Google you will see a link called “Show Options.” When you click this link the options will appear on the left hand side of the page. The options are as follows:

Here is a video from the Google blog that walks you through the new feature.

I find the options to be incredible helpful and am very happy that Google put out this new feature!

Doodle 4 Google: Vote for your Favorite Google Doodles

Doodle 4 Google is a competition for children in grades K-12 to use their artistic and creative sense to come up with their own version of the Google homepage logo around the theme “What I Wish for the World.”

You can vote online between May 11th - 18th from the regional winners. On May 21st the winner will be announced on Google.com.

To vote for your favorite Doodle, vote here!

Google Search Update: More Local Results!

Google has officially confirmed that they have made updates related to the local searches that you see when you type in a keyword. Prior to this update, you would only see local business results and a Google Map when you type in a location with your keyword(s). Now, Google will give you local search results even when you don’t type in a location. Google determines where you live based on your IP address.

For example, now if you type in the keyword “pizza”, Google will give you local business listings and a map for pizza shops in your area. This is Google’s attempt to further give it’s users what they are looking for. They realized that many people don’t necessarily type in a location when they search, so they want to make sure users are able to find what they are looking for easily.

Microsoft Rebranding their Search Engine

Microsoft is planning on spending 80-100 million to rebrand its image in the marketplace around its search engine Live Search. They hired JWT, an ad agency, to run a campaign that includes TV, print, radio and online marketing. JWT is going to rebrand their search engine over the summer to showcase its new features. The campaign is not going to position Microsoft as a competitor to Google and Yahoo, instead it is going to take the position as offering a search engine that has more focused results. Stay Tuned!

Google Ventures

Yesterday Google announced Google Ventures, Google’s new venture capital fund.

Google states “Google Ventures is broadly interested in startups in industries including consumer Internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and others. First and foremost, we’re looking for entrepreneurs who are tackling problems in creative and innovative ways.”

Due to the current state of the economy, Google thinks this is a great time to invest in growing companies.

If you are interested, visit Google.com/ventures/. Or, if you would like your venture to be considered by Google, email: ventures@google.com

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