Without getting into the technical aspects of the change, the biggest potential impact would be on those of us who use keyword-level data to optimize site content, layout, user experience, etc.

Despite Google being very clear that this change would only impact less than 10% of queries, our initial reaction included questions such as, “How will we be able to optimize our site for branded vs. non-branded searches?”, “How can we connect user search intent to on-site behavior (i.e., conversions)?”

Before we get into the data we have seen over the past 10 days, here is an example of how we use keyword-level data to optimize a site:
Let’s say we have 20,000 users arriving on a site from organic search. We can divide those users into a few different groups to learn what type of content various users are looking for, what browsers and devices they are using, etc. Perhaps we want to compare people who search for brand terms (e.g., Jeep, new Jeep Wagoneer, etc.) to those who are searching for industry/category terms (e.g, SUV Reviews, new SUVs 2012, etc.). Using advanced segments in Google analytics, we can compare these two groups relatively easily and find that (as an example) those searching for brand terms are 3Xs more likely to download a brochure while those searching industry/category terms are 5Xs more likely to be on a mobile device and 12Xs more likely to search for a nearby dealer. Using this data we can change a site’s experience to better serve our various organic search audiences.

We’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on the data since Google implemented this change and, in general, it has had very little (if any) impact on our ability to measure organic search traffic, track users’ paths through the site, see where users are leaving, what devices users are searching from, etc.

Looking at data from a few different sites that we work on across several industries, here is the percent of organic search data that has been affected:

News/Magazine Site: 1.6%
Insurance Company: 0.9%
Home Improvement Company: 0.7%
Recipe Site: 1.5%
Food Company: 1.2%
Food Company: 1.5%
Pet Products Company: 1.2%
Luxury Home Goods Company: 1.3%

Just to make sure the data above is clear, using the News/Magazine site as an example, of all of the organic search traffic going to that site (over 15,000 visits over the past 10 days) only 1.6% or 250 visits were ‘blocked’. In other words, instead of seeing what queries brought those 250 search visits to the site, we see “(not provided)” as shown in the screen shot below.

So, at the end of the day, it’s not that concerning. Until that number starts to approach the 10% – 15% point, we can still do all of the keyword-level analysis we did before (including the example above) and feel comfortable that we are making decisions based on statistically sound data.

To review…

• This change only affects organic search data for users who are signed into their Google account.
• It does not impact your ability to appear in organic search results.
• This is not a change to Google’s search algorithm. Nothing is different in terms of what it takes to appear in organic search results.
• This does not impact paid search data. Those users’ queries will still appear in the data.
• The change will be seen in all analytics platforms, whether you are using Google Analytics, Webtrends, etc.
• This only applies to Google searches. Yahoo/Bing search queries will still be displayed.
• So far, the amount of data being blocked is so small that it is not worth worrying about.

If anything, it might even provide new data that we did not have access to before. For example, if we start to see that the (not provided) traffic really likes subscribing to our RSS feed, we definitely need to make sure that our feed appears correctly in Google Reader (since we know those users are signed into a Google account and are more likely to use Google Reader to manager their RSS subscriptions).

We’ll continue to watch the data (as we tend to do), but don’t expect any massive changes to your ongoing organic optimization efforts, measurement ability or traffic patterns.

Let’s say that you published decent content and Google deemed it worthy of ranking highly on its search engine. Hurdle #1 has been conquered. The next step is persuading a user to click on your listing  – you have a relevant keyword-rich title and meta description right? With any luck, you’ve just earned yourself a visitor. The user experience presented on the landing page now makes the difference between an engaged visitor clicking across multiple pages per visit and one who bounces immediately by furiously clicking the BACK button on his browser.

We ran a handful of tests where the query resulted in a desired link on the first page, which we then visited but immediately bounced and returned to the search results. The SERP had been adjusted slightly based on this behavior, which in Google’s eyes meant we were dissatisfied with the clicked result.

NEW OPTION FOR MORE RECENT RESULTS

The immediate bounce adjusted the search results to now show an option to “Get more results from the past 24 hours” below the listing that was just clicked. Google understands you were dissatisfied with the clicked listing and might be interested in more recent material. In addition to recent listings from the same domain, other sites are offered as well, potentially derailing the visitor from returning to your site. As well, a ‘Block Results’ link is now available for that extreme case.

Step 1: Searched Google for query [man of the house]

Step 2: Received the below listing and clicked-through to the site

Step 3: Immediately bounced from the site, returning to Google

Step 4: The listing has now been modified to include recent results & option to block

Step 5: Expanded recent results include other domains

BLOCKING ALL DOMAIN RESULTS

Two additional SERP tests revealed a “Block Results’ link immediately following the site bounce. This rather extreme action could have major repercussions for your site if the user was extremely dissatisfied with his landing page experience.

Step 1: Searched Google for queries [craig heimbuch] and [push present ideas]

Step 2: Received the below listings and clicked-through to the site

Step 3: Immediately bounced from the site, returning to Google

Step 4: The listing has now been modified to allow blocking the entire domain

Keeping visitors on your site is important for a number of reasons (business objectives, site engagement, brand loyalty) but now we see a potential negative impact on your organic search results as well. Creating a landing page (or just adapting your site in general) that allows a clean and easy user experience can benefit both your visitors and your organic search listings.

The Same Social Media Standards …

So what exactly is Google Plus? Most importantly it is not a standalone application but rather integrated social sharing across Google properties (Search, Gmail, YouTube, Android phones, Google toolbar, etc). However the tricky part will be convincing users to create Google public profiles and opt in with their friends. Currently few Google profiles exist and it is this hurdle that could stall widespread adoption. However, Google has publically stated that the new Plus One button will be a signal in organic ranking, so there is an incentive for users to adopt a profile and begin promoting sites.

What will look familiar is ‘The Stream”, a wall of feeds (very similar in appearance to Facebook) showcasing shared photos, videos, +1 articles and status updates. Your friends can comment on a stream inline or simply give it a +1, similar to the ‘Like’ button on the Facebook wall. We don’t know if +1’s found exclusively on a Steam post will affect organic rankings, though given the documented importance of Twitter mentions, Facebook Likes and the public admittance that +1 button activity on sites will impact search ranking, there is good probability that social sharing on Google Plus could become a signal as well.

While Facebook does allow users to create ‘Lists’ for sharing information with only certain groups of friends, the interface and usability has been too much of a hurdle for the casual user. Google’s ‘Circles’ feature allows the same functionality but in a simple way of dragging friends to a prescribed ‘circle’. Whenever an item is shared across your network, Google Plus by default asks which ‘circles’ should be included. This is a quick and easy way to share that party picture with your college buddies but not your coworkers.

Our own data suggests that users are interested in not just ‘Liking’ content but also sending to specific friends. Our agency helps manage an online magazine for men called Man of the House and we have noticed that for every 1 ‘Like’ there are 0.56 ‘Sends’ directly to friends. While the data only suggest half of Facebook users will ‘Send’ an article, we believe this statistic is indicative of a larger trend even though ‘Likes’ still dominate. The ability to share content with selectively chosen groups of friends, rather than a blanket public recommendation, will become a trend in social media and the increasing awareness of privacy around shaping one’s online identity.

… But With Some New Features

While the above features are similar to what is already available in social media, the ‘Sparks’ and ‘Hangouts’ applications show new creative thinking around what users may want in the future. ‘Sparks’ is similar to a customized RSS feed with articles suggested based on your interests (which of course can be shared across Google Plus if you so choose). The ‘Hangouts’ feature is a form of group video chat with your Plus One pals. While the technology is not entirely new (Skype already has such a feature) the seamless integration within the Google universe could appeal to users.

Another key point of differentiation is the immediate release of an Android (and soon iPhone) compatible app, allowing all the functionality associated with Google Plus. Initial screenshots show the app was not created as an afterthought but rather a vital component of the Google Plus ecosystem. One interesting feature is that photos taken on your phone can be instantly uploaded to your account and tagged by location. No more synching by USB cable or a tedious upload process – you take the photos and up into the cloud they float. Google is well aware of the growing base of smartphone users, in addition to the prominence that Android phones now play in the industry, and have wisely incorporated mobile devices into Google Plus.

The Verdict on Google Plus?

It might take some time for users to adopt Google Plus as their de facto social media sharing hub. Many have invested so much time and energy building their Facebook communities that switching to an entirely new platform could be a difficult change. This hesitation might further be compounded by an overly complicated Google Plus interface that could detract from mass adoption. However, the seamless integration with other Google platforms and Android phones makes that pill easier to swallow.

But will Google Plus transform the way you interact online? Probably not immediately but we know by their track record that Google is big on constant innovation and CEO Larry Page has been insistent to Mountain View employees that social is where Google needs to grow. A Fast Company article on the topic gives a nice appraisal worth noting:

“All of which is to say, if you take a look at Google+ today, and write it off for all the ways it falls short of what you’d want from a new social network, you’d be missing the point. This is just v 1. Or, more likely, v 0.5.”

We have only seen the beginning of Google’s focus on social media. A reactionary move by Facebook to update their own platform can be anticipated (already video chat has been quickly rolled out since the Google announcement), providing competitive fuel for even more innovation going forward. When the world’s largest digital presence decides it wants to be more integrated with your digital world, you can expect that life will never be the same.

First, the +1 button relies heavily on using a well-connected Google Profile. Otherwise you are just a faceless searcher clicking +1 buttons without much context. While Google admits that +1 votes will affect organic search ranking and be shared publically (on this point they have been vague and left the door open to how public +1’s will be shared), the personalization is really the crux of why this feature might resonate with users. How many of you currently have complete Google Profiles synched with all your friends and networks? Not many, I would imagine. Encouraging users to opt-in to yet another web presence profile will be hurdle #1 for Google.

Who will this affect the most? Major brands should see minimal impact while content publishers could find a swing in ranking. Let’s take Nike, for example. They already rank definitively on the first few SERP pages, while other sites with a high amount of +1’s will probably not knock them off that pedestal. Furthermore, we can expect brands to acquire +1’s themselves and solidify their position. Content publishers, on the other hand, are more reliant on dynamic ranking and could find themselves assisted by +1’s (or, on the other hand, hindered if their content does not acquire these social votes).

Individual sites will start to post the +1 button in the coming months when it becomes available. Given the leverage that Google wields on the search results pages, many sites are reliant on organic search traffic and will adopt this new feature if only in the hopes of not being left behind. As with any algorithm update, this could open the door to manipulation, but Google has most likely accounted for that when integrating +1 as a ranking signal. AdWords ads will also feature the new button though Google has stated this will not be a factor in Quality Score. In both instances, the +1’s can be monitored and tracked through AdWords and Google Webmaster Tools, offering social metrics not as readily available with the Facebook ‘Like’ button and sharing valuable visitor insight.

Will this change the internet? A little. Though the type of site you run, either as an authoritative brand or content publisher, will determine how big an impact this change may have on your organic ranking. When the +1 button for individual sites is released in the coming months, we can expect to hear more about the affect on organic ranking and the social landscape in general. The US will see this featured rolled out first, though a global deployment will surely be announced shortly. Google has set up an experimental test of the new feature for users to see how their Google profiles might be affected.

The data below compares Google organic traffic from 18 days before Google Instant to the 18 days after.

With the exception of a few outliers, most sites have experienced increased organic search traffic, but lower quality users. We will continue to monitor this, and also look into Google Instant’s impact on our paid search data in the upcoming weeks.

Anyone seeing similar trends in other industries?

Clicking ENTER when the blue arrow is aligned on your chosen result will load that page in the same window. The video capture below shows how this functionality helps you navigate search results.

One ramification here is the need for paid positioning above the organic results, since those appearing on the right side are not able to be navigated without clicking. Also noticeable is that the arrow navigation is not an option while Google Instant is dynamically serving up results. This makes sense since keyboard navigation allows the user to scroll between suggested results while in this mode.

From start to finish, including using Google Instant, a user can now navigate SERP’s without clicking, using only keyboard commands.

UPDATE: It is possible to navigate to the right side paid ads by scrolling down through all the organic results, at which point the blue arrow cursor appears on the right paid ads. Interesting, however, is that once the bottom paid ad is reached, the cursor does not jump back to the original starting position on result #1 but just ends right there. Scrolling back up is the only option.

In other cases, and less frequently, the blue arrow (or triangle) appears on the 2^nd result.

The blue arrow icon does not appear to be a graphic though page code does show that inclusion is deliberate under a CSS span ID of “knavm” with the color and other attributes assigned via css.

If we see the blue arrow appearing on both 1st and 2nd SERP results, what then is driving this decision? Some potential ideas might be the most clicked link, the highest page rank or an authoritative brand page (similar to the algorithm update last month where brands are dominating SERP pages).

Perhaps we are just seeing a test of new HTML5 functionality. To determine if this is a regional or national roll out (or test), are other users seeing the blue arrow and on which result is it appearing?

UPDATE: We now understand that the blue arrow icon can be manipulated vertically with keyboard commands to scroll among search results, both paid and organic. We posted a related video on keyboard navigation of Google results.

a: amazon
b: best buy
c: craiglist
d: duke energy
e: ebay
f: facebook
g: gmail
h: hulu
i: ikea
j: jungle jims
k: kroger
l: lowes
m: maps
n: newport on the levee
o: orbitz
p: pandora
q: quotes
r: reds
s: skype
t: target
u: university of cincinnati
v: value city
w: weather
x: xavier university
y: youtube
z: zappos

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.

Distracting

Overall, I believe Local Search will see the most immediate and obvious impact from Google Instant. Anyone searching for anything beginning with a city name will potentially be incredibly distracted. For example, while searching for [chicago restaurants], I get to [chicago re] and see listings for real estate. Sure, why not look up home values in my neighborhood. In another example, while searching for [new york metro], I reach [new york me] – Hey the Mets won tonight.

While the claim is that Google Instant will help users “even when they don’t know exactly what they’re looking for”, it could, in fact, distract users with content they never intended to look for in the first place.

Diluting

Using another local search example, what happens when a user searching for [cincinnati mortgage] stops at [cincinnati mo] because they saw local movie times? And more importantly, what happens to the four paid ads that were triggered by a presumed movie-based query? If the user looked at the movie times for more than three seconds, all of the paid movie ads just received an impression (there are also other ways those ads could receive impressions). Already, there is a lot of chatter about rising impressions, diluted clicks, lower click-through rates, lower quality scores and higher costs.

Google has admitted that this may be the case. The Analytics, AdWords and Webmaster Tools blogs all say essentially the same thing:

With Google Instant, you may notice an increase in impressions

It will be interesting to see how this plays out on the paid search front. Especially the potential for competitors to bid on shortened versions of competitive brand terms. For example, Honda could place paid search ads on the term [corol] and have Accord ads show up before Toyota ads even have a chance to be displayed.

Spelling

This implication is partly in jest, but Google Instant makes knowing how to spell something quite unnecessary. I am ashamed to admit how often I rely on the ‘Did you mean…’ feature to correct my spelling. Before today, I would at least have to make a valiant effort to spell my complete query as accurately as possible and then sheepishly click submit before being gently corrected by Google. Now I just have to know the first few letters and without even having to click I am, potentially, shown what I was looking for.

These are, of course, only initial impressions after the first few hours. There will certainly be more discovery, questions and issues that surface in the coming days.

The claim made by Google is that this new approach reflects a “strong user interest in a particular domain”. Essentially they are just giving searchers what they want, a constant democratizing claim on the great benevolence of search engines. If the majority of users searching for [petsmart] have a preference for content on the official site, then a page 1 SERP dominated by the “petsmart.com” domain seems perfectly reasonable. This approach has been implemented in the past through “site links” that allowed deeper linking in line with the main result and has been traditionally reserved for brands and trusted domains.

Authoritative content, relative to a user’s particular query, to a certain extent deserves top billing. Let’s check off some organic ranking factors: Is the site trusted? Yes. Is there keyword relevance? If the query is [petsmart] and the domain is “petsmart.com”, then I would say we have high correlative relevance. Are users clicking on the petsmart.com links when they appear? Most likely, if that is the phrase they searched.

So, at issue with some bloggers is not really the contention that a brand should get top ranking but rather that the domain should dominate almost the entire SERP page. Again, we go back to the diversity argument. If users do not like the dominated SERP page they are given, they can always vote with their clicks and send a message that way. But what percentage of users will take the time to navigate to the 2^nd page just to prove a point. Few, if any. It has been reported by Chitika, a search-based ad network, that going from the 11^th spot (2^nd page) to the 10^th spot (1^st page) sees a 143% jump in traffic. So the pressure to make that first page, and the battle if you are not the brand authority, can be rather difficult.

It was also pointed out that phrases for which brand-dominated SERP’s have been witnessed (apple ipod, petsmart, nike) are very broad, not giving the engine much information on which to gather results. The search engine is then inclined to return so broad results from trusted sites as the best response to a vague query. A more focused search for [petsmart cincinnati] provides diverse results related to Cincinnati, which was my intent as a searcher. With around 70% of searches focused on long-tail keywords, users are become more adept at phrasing their query to obtain the content they want. In this regard, Google may be correct that branded sites should be trusted and offered prevalence, in so long as they meet the desired query. Otherwise, we can always vote with our clicks.

Advertisers have previously had the ability to include text ads within Google Image search results but it was just recently announced that image ads would become available as well. The option to include a thumbnail image adjacent to text will be called “Image Search Ads” and is a boon to advertisers looking to capitalize on the reported 1 billion page views per day that Google Images pulls in. This new ad format is a benefit to advertisers by allowing products to be shown in a setting where users are already searching for related images. According to Ben Ling, Google Director of Search Products:

“People often search images for queries about shopping, travel and entertainment, which lend themselves well to advertisements.”

Certain keywords, like “converse shoes”, might lend themselves better than “pet unicorn”, for example, though advertisers will also make this distinction and only bid where it’s relevant and to their benefit. The sponsored image ads, as usual, are offset by a shaded color background to distinguish them from the organic results.

Opening the door for future rollouts, Ben Ling also commented that the company would explore adopting the format on other products, including the main search results. Image Search Ads present a new avenue to help the niche advertiser looking to include a visual allure to his ad and campaign tests will show whether the investment pays off with clicks and conversions.

So what does this have to do with organic search monitoring and timely content? Everything. Those sites that had the foresight to prepare relevant content related to the World Cup, and are furthermore prepared to continue creating & updating that content in a timely manner, will be well positioned to take advantage of significant increases in search volume.

Google Trends shows a baseline interest in the term “world cup” but clearly indicates a drastic spike every 4 years … right around the time of the World Cup. Planning and timing your content properly can allow your site to take advantage of opportunities such as this.

In the run-up to the official start of competition, the single most popular search in the past hour has been “watch world cup 2010 online”. Having a site that delivers on this request, or paid ads that target the phrase, will be rewarded with high impressions and user engagement.

Going back to SERPs, a query for “world cup” shows real time scores and schedules above the organic results. This is similar to other queries that return relevant data/answers above the organic results such as simple math, currency conversion, and other sports scores. Looking further, FIFA.com (apart from providing/sponsoring the scores at the top of the page) dominates the first few organic positions. As we discussed in a prior post on The New SERP, FIFA was able to leverage proprietary data and a well designed/developed site to monopolize most of the first results page ‘above the fold’.  In addition, let’s not forget that Google likes, and gives preference to, brands. So FIFA had an unfair advantage (or a right to win, depending on whose side you are on).

Furthermore, FIFA.com has strategically partnered with Google to offer an even wider breadth of accessible content. Users can sign up for updates directly in their browser though the Google Chrome extension and an iGoogle gadget feeds scores directly into a home page widget while skinning the theme according to your favorite football team. Not only is FIFA.com providing the relevant content users are seeking but also making it more accessible through partnered mediums.

The moral of this story:

1. Use ongoing monitoring & research to find trends in the types of terms you want to rank for.
2. Plan and develop your content in advance based on these findings.
3. Take advantage of any proprietary data you might have and work with Google to get your information above organic results.

As mentioned previously, Google Caffeine is good news for brands – top brands will find it is easier to rank for industry-related terms. Caffeine also favors ‘information/news’ sites that are updated frequently. Finally, as we have already seen with the inclusion of live twitter feeds in SERPs, Caffeine will more aggressively spider and display real-time results from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

Have any of your SERPs changed in the past few days as a result of Caffeine?

While the page title is still massively important in terms of how your page will appear in a SERP, the rest of the listing has several new aspects to capitalize on.

Breadcrumbs

The last line in a page’s listing is, most often, simply the URL of that page. However, depending on how well developed your site is, that URL may be long, unwieldy, and (for the most part) not useful in terms of indicating to a user where that page lives within the site. To help solve this, Google has begun to include visual breadcrumbs (often used as a secondary navigation on blogs, forums, etc.) in individual SERP listings.

4+ Line Descriptions

When users search extremely long-tail phrases (6+ words), Google often has a pretty good idea of what that user is looking for. Therefore it is able to display fewer, more detailed results. One of the outcomes of this is longer descriptions. See below for an example of several 4-line descriptions.

Inline Sitelinks

Sitelinks have been around for a while, often reserved for the #1 result in any given search (assuming adequate authority). However, Google has now begun including inline sitelinks in several results on a SERP. You can see below that ESPN, while not necessarily ranking #1 for [nhl hockey results], does still have enough authority (and a properly coded site) to allow Google to display 4 inline links to other related pages deep in the site.

Sublink Clusters

Finally, while there is no ‘official’ name for these links, what are commonly being referred to as sublink clusters have begun to appear. Typically assigned to blog, news, and forum sites, these 4-6 results live below the standard listing and provide several deep links to related articles or posts.

These updates to SERPs make it easier for users to get deeper into a site directly from search results pages and prove, once again, that the SERP has become the new home page.

Teracent’s targeting platform can takes thousands of elements from a display ad and then regroup them instantly based on various factors, like the geographic location of a website visitor or the past behavior of ad viewers. The startup also has a partnership with Yahoo to target mobile ads.

In a blog post, Google notes other display advertising features it has introduced recently, including improved measurement tools, and says it will make Teracent’s technology available to its display ad clients.

Teracent likely won’t be the last acquisition to bolster Google’s display efforts. Display ad leader Yahoo is struggling to right itself and the recession has dealt display ads a heavy blow. Although Google recently has seen its search ad business improve after a slowdown for much of this year, display ads are seen as the next potential growth area for the company.

Enhanced Video Search

Bing has begun to include four video results at the top of video related searches. They appear to show up more often than Google’s universal results.

Comparative search for [30 Rock].

Comparative search for [Modern Warfare 2].

Facebook / Wish Lists

Bing also introduced the ability to add products and gadgets to a Bing wish list and then push that wish list directly to Facebook. I searched for (what I would consider) popular items for holiday wish lists such as [ps3], [iphone], [madden 10 ], [modern warfare 2] but could not find an option to create a wish list. Either the program is not fully rolled out yet, or they need to do some usability testing. Despite not finding this function, I did notice a few differences between Google and Bing SERPs that warranted a mention.

Google still appears to be testing their product ad format.

In comparison, Bing continues to push their Cash Back program.

While we are searching for [ps3] on Bing…Is a page with 20+ results, broken into 7 categories by orange text, and 4-line green URLs really a better user experience? Bing executives keep saying, “People expect more than just 10 blue links”. That may be true, but I’m not sure I expected to see a page like this.

And really? No ads being sold for the keyword [ps3]?

Wolfram Alpha / Calculations

Users have become accustomed to searching on Google using queries such as [cups in a liter] and getting a quick easy answer at the top of the SERP. Bing is also now connected to Wolfram Alpha’s math engine to provide similar results.

Comparative search for [cos(36)].

Bing appears to be better at simple Algebra than Google. It will actually solve for X. I’ll be really impressed when it can do limits.

These changes will help Bing catch up (if not surpass) Google in terms of micro-functionality. But as our search sherpa pointed out earlier this week, Google is actively making small and large acquisitions that continue to make it a long uphill journey for Bing.

Lots of interesting things going at the GooglePlex lately so I think a quick recap post is in order.

First and foremost was the announcement that Google has acquired AdMob, one of the largest mobile ad networks, in an all-stock deal valued at $750 million. AdMob currently serves up 10 billion monthly ad requests. Combined with the massive AdSense assets, this will make it the market leader in mobile in a big way.

“I’m excited because I believe this will be an important moment for everyone involved in producing, consuming, or monetizing engaging products on mobile,” adMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui wrote on the company’s website. “The truth is that the mobile industry has had no shortage of creative energy, amazing products, and talented entrepreneurs. But until now, it has always felt like those of us involved in this space played second fiddle to our online brethren. I believe that time is over.”

This move also provides Google, whose Android software is being used more widely in smartphones such as the Motorola’s new Droid, a key set of technologies to expand its advertising footprint beyond its signature text search ads.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said recently that the search giant planned to make about an acquisition a month, mostly small purchases, while making a large acquisition every year or two. AdMob is seen as one of the large acquisitions, though the money involved is small next to Google’s $178 billion market capitalization. Besides DoubleClick, Google has paid more only for video sharing site YouTube, which it bought for $1.7 billion in 2006.

Let’s segue to another announcement in the last few days, Google Commerce Search. Online retailers may find this helpful for improving the product search on their site, and potentially increasing sales and reducing bounce rates. Think Google Site Search, specifically tailored to e-commerce and product sites. Great timing as the holiday shopping season is looming.

So let’s look now at what Google owns:

• The largest display network online
• Largest mobile ad network
• A payment processor
• A conversion optimization engine
• Powerful analytics software
• An affiliate network

And while Google doesn’t expect any serious regulatory issues with the AdMob purchase, it did go the extra mile to try and point out how small of a deal this was in the big picture of overall advertising spending. It created a Web site devoted to the deal where it quoted competitors in support of the point that mobile ad budgets are tiny at the moment compared to the overall amount of money spent on online ads.

Bottom line here is that the 800 pound gorilla of the internet just got a bit bigger.