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Google

Business Model

Google generates revenue primarily through two programs: highly targeted advertising and online search services.
Google AdWords for Advertisers

Google offers a highly effective advertising program that is widely recognized as one of the Web's most efficient advertising vehicles.

    • Pricing Auction based pricing based on the value (cost-per-click or CPC) an advertiser assigns to particular keywords. An ad's position on the page is determined by a combination of the CPC and the click-through rate (number of times the ad is clicked on by users) so that the most relevant ads are displayed more prominently. The cost of creating an account is $5 and there is no minimum ad spend required.
    • Technology Prices for some clicks are adjusted based on their expected value to help ensure better performance for advertisers and an automated discounter keeps the cost of each click at the lowest amount possible in order to hold its position above a competitor's ad. ad targeting by location, and numerous tools for optimizing accounts, including a keyword suggestion tool and daily budget management.
    • Format Messages appear adjacent to web search results on Google.com and partner sites. Labeled as "sponsored links.” May appear on targeted content pages across the web.
    • Targeting Based on advertiser selected keywords or sophisticated content analysis algorithms, so ads always appear in context with other information on the page.
    • Support Two options: Advertisers sign up online and manage their own accounts, which are activated with a credit card. For our larger advertisers, our full service account team sets up accounts, designs campaigns based on the advertiser's defined metrics and then monitors creative and click-through rates to continuously optimize those campaigns.
    • Customers Recent advertisers include: Sony, Cisco, Alamo Car Rental, Ameritrade, Amazon.com, Canon, Disney, General Motors, L.L. Bean, Nordstrom, Sears, Smith & Hawken, Sprint, Volvo and Xerox.

Google AdSense and Web Site Services

Google AdSense serves relevant ads on search result and content pages.

    • Technology Innovations include the ability to target relevant advertising based on keywords provided by a searcher or to dynamically analyze content and select relevant ads to display on a page.
    • Support Two options: Publishers can manage their own accounts, which are activated through an online application process and implemented by simply cutting and pasting some HTML onto their web pages. A dedicated sales team customizes programs for sites receiving more than 20 million page views per month.
    • Customers USATODAY.com, ABC.com, Forbes.com and 60% of the comScore Media Metrix top 100 sites, as well as thousands of other specialty content sites.

Google Search Services enable publishers to provide Google web and site search on their own pages – results that can be used to generate revenue with the AdSense for Search program.

    • Technology Google search is based on a continuously evolving set of technologies that offer innovations in every aspect of information retrieval and provide users with the most relevant results.
    • Support Hosted by Google, with results customized to customer's specifications. Results available via HTTP and can be formatted in XML or Google's proprietary protocol.
    • Updates Conducted on a regular basis to ensure fresh content.
    • Reporting Reports on daily number of traffic, top queries, top keywords searched, and other information.
    • Indexing More than 8 billion pages, the largest index on the web.
    • Features Searches can be narrowed to a specific domain/subdomain or a specific language. Google also supports OR operators, keyword exclusion and phrase searching if quotation marks are used.
    • Customers Washingtonpost.com, AOL/Netscape, Palm, Fujitsu NIFTY (Japan), NEC BIGLOBE (Japan), NetEase (China),Yam.com (Taiwan), Vodafone Global Platform and Internet Services Group (U.K.), Retivision (Spain), Sapo (Portugal), and Virgilio (Italy). 

The Google Search Appliance, a scalable and secure device that provides Google quality search across an individual website or intranet.

    • Technology Google search is based on a continuously evolving set of technologies that offer innovations in every aspect of information retrieval and provide users with the most relevant results.
    • Delivery Hosted at the customer's location on the Google Search Appliance, with results customized to customer's specifications. Three models offer search across any size collection up to 15 million documents.
    • Updates Crawls available on a schedule set by the customer. Password protected or secure pages can be indexed in most cases. Google's caching technology makes it possible for users to access pages even if the hosting server is busy or down.
    • Reporting Reports on daily number of traffic, top queries, top keywords searched, and other information.
    • Indexing Customers can elect to offer different segments of their index to different users (e.g., by language, country, etc.)
    • Features Searches can be narrowed to a specific domain/subdomain or a specific language. International language support enables search over documents in the following languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish. Google also supports OR operators, keyword exclusion and phrase searching if quotation marks are used. Partners can set a specific URL or set of URLs to be returned at the top of a list of returned queries.
    • Support 24/7 technical support  
    • Customers PBS, The World Bank, Procter & Gamble, Cisco Systems, Boeing, Stanford University , Nextel and Kaiser Permanente

Google Wireless Services deliver Google search results via PDAs, wireless phones and other mobile devices powered by many of the world's leading wireless service providers.

    • Technology Google's proprietary on-the-fly conversion system translates web pages into a language understood by handheld devices, so users can access the world's largest index of web pages. Google Wireless Search supports WML, HDML, HTML, and i-mode and J-Sky compatible HTML mobile internet standards.
    • Delivery Hosted by Google, with results customized to customer's specifications. Results available via HTTP and can be formatted in XML or Google's proprietary protocol.
    • Updates Crawls available daily or weekly. Password protected or secure pages can be indexed in most cases. Google's cache makes it possible for users to access pages even if the hosting server is busy or down.
    • Reporting Reports on daily number of traffic, top queries, top keywords searched, and other information.
    • Revenue Opportunities Targeted keyword advertising that can be sold by customer.
    • Indexing More than 8 billion pages, the largest index on the web. Customers can elect to offer different segments of their index to different users (e.g., by language, country, etc.)
    • Features Google Number Search (GNS): One-tap technology to facilitate text entry on web-ready phones. Example: Enter the numbers 466453 for Google instead of 4666666455533. Search results offered in 35 languages. Search by specific language, by topic, by customized URLs submitted to Google, safe search of English HTML pages. 
    • Support 24/7 technical support.
    • Customers Sprint, Cingular, Qwest, Nextel, Bell Mobility (Canada), Vizzavi, Sprint PCS, Nextel, Palm, Handspring and Omnisky.

Google AdSense for domains serves ads on dormant domain pages.