Google has launched a new online network which is set to simplify and speed up both online display ad publishing and advertising. Google has now officially acknowledged the launch and the new network which is set to shake up the existing display advertising community while promising to improving usability and accessibility.
“today we’re excited to announce the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a step towards creating a more open display advertising ecosystem for everyone. The Ad Exchange is a real-time marketplace that helps large online publishers on one side; and ad networks and agency networks on the other, buy and sell display advertising space.” Taken from the official Google Blog.
Google has set up three primary objectives for the DoubleClick Ad Exchange.
1) Make the buying and selling of display advertising easier and simpler to use.
2) Delivering improved performance which can be directly measured by advertising agencies
3) Open up the ecosystem.
“These publishers and ad networks manage and represent large volumes of ads and ad space from lots of advertisers and websites. By bringing them together in an open marketplace in which prices are set in a real-time auction, the Ad Exchange enables display ads and ad space to be allocated much more efficiently. This improves returns for advertisers and enables publishers to get the most value out of their online content.” Taken from the Official Google Blog.
This is not a new idea, there are many existing and established ad exchange networks but what will be different is Google’s approach. The Double Click Ad Exchange will be simple to use and accessible to all levels of advertiser and publisher. Integration into the existing Adwords community is sure to set the foundations for the success of this product. We will have to wait and see how the network is received but it does look set to offer users a valuable alternative to the existing ad exchange networks.
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
Author: Creative SEO
A massive new multiplayer version of Monopoly has been launched in association with Google, the world is now your play ground, buy property on any street anywhere in the world!
On the 9th of September, Hasbro will launch Monopoly City Streets. This massive online version of the famous board game will only be available for a 4 month period but the good news is its completely free. The Free game uses Google maps or the open source Open Street Maps as the playing field. Hasbro claims it will be “the biggest game of Monopoly of all time” and players will be able to purchase almost “any street in the world”.
As with the traditional board game, the idea behind the game is to make as much money as possible through purchasing property from different location. The more property you have, the more rent you can earn, the larger your income.
Each new player will start the game with 3 million monopoly dollars. Once a player owns a street they can purchase, sell and rent properties. Streets can also be traded or sold to other players.
The Hasbro have also introduced a chance card, which allow players to sabotage rivals by building rubbish dumps, prisons or wind farms on their property to reduce the value of properties and rent on a specific street. Players can only remove a hazard by bulldozing a lot clean, but this again requires the appropriate chance card.
Google’s world famous logo has come under threat from a strange “Unexplained Phenomenon”. On Saturday 5th September a weird flying saucer appeared on the Google logo and appeared to abduct the letter “O” from the logo itself. A keyword search in Google.com for “Unexplained Phenomenon” revealed the UFO.
At this very same time Google Tweeted the following message.
Translated the message reads “All Your O are belong to us.”
Danny Sullivan, famous SEO and editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land received the following statement directly from Google about the incident.
“We consider the second ‘o’ critical to user recognition of our brand and pronunciation of our name. We are actively looking into the mysterious tweet that has appeared on the Google twitter stream and the disappearance of the “o” on the Google homepage. We hope to have an update in the coming weeks.”
At this moment in time we are unsure of what exactly Google has up its sleeve or weather this a real encounter with an internet entity.
Danny Sullivan is reported as believing he might have the answer.
“I twittered that I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the letters disappear each day in some type of running logo changes, as Google’s done from time to time. That didn’t happen today, but Google Operating System notes that this type of series of change my occur related to H. G. Wells.
This is due to a Google Korea blog post that says to watch for the next in the series on Sept. 15 with things of “mystery,” “invisible” and “novel,” Google Operating System translates. The assumption is that this relates to the HG Wells work “The Invisible Man” and may celebrate his birthday. If so, then expect a further doodle on Sept. 21 — when Wells was actually born.”
We will just have to wait and see what happens next?
Thursday, September 03rd, 2009
Author: Creative SEO
YouTube, the social networking video sharing community, is said to be in discussions with Sony & Lions Gate Films to offer a Film & Movie Rental service through the YouTube portal.
YouTube, one of the internet’s visited websites, recently announced that it would be offering premium, professionally produced content onto its network in order to attract more users and increase advertising revenue. Last month, as part of an agreement, Time Warner, CNN, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim added older content to the YouTube Network. At present the majority of YouTube content is user generated or uploaded. The addition of paid content will see a dramatic change to the existing site, offering new sources of revenue and advertising opportunities.
“Google’s trying to find ways to better monetize this very good asset,” said Andy Miedler, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. “As long as the economics make sense, I certainly applaud them for trying to increase the revenue stream.”
Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman, declined to comment on “rumors or speculation.”
“We hope to expand on both our great relationships with movie studios and on the selection and types of videos we offer our community,” Dale said, without being more specific. The Wall Street Journal reported the story yesterday.
YouTube has also reported that it has come to a final settlement with PRS for Music and Music Videos will shortly be available to view in the UK once again. PRS requested a large royalty fee from YouTube for playing and distributing Music Videos and related content. YouTube announced that the Fee structure was too high and that advertising revenue would not fund such high charges.
After lengthy discussions with PRS, YouTube announced back in March that it would be blocking music content until a settlement could be made in regards to license fees. Nearly 6 months on and the service will finally be renewed.
Thursday, September 03rd, 2009
Author: Creative SEO
Social Media bookmarking site Digg is said to be adding NoFollow tags to site links in order to reduce to volume of spam listings in its network. The links which will be directly affected are within user profiles, comments and unpopular posts. The addition of NoFollow tags will mean that Digg will not pass on link juice and page rank to any link which qualifies for the NoFollow tag.
Many Digg users create and submit content to Digg just for the links back to their sites. Quality content will drive high volumes of direct traffic to a website, through the Digg network, but many users are more interested in creating poor quality content in order to generate as many links as possible.
Digg have not explained how popular a link needs to be in order to qualify to have the NoFollow tag removed, the Digg blog announced the change but did not detail the criteria.
Digg have said that they have been working with leading members of the SEO community to come up with an effective and fair rule. No names have been given but you have to hope that this is not a result of pressure from Google.
