Leveraging its dominance in search, with an ambition to crack display, Google is bringing more graphical ads into search results. Google has done this in the past with video and they’re doing this now (as an experiment) in image search results.
Google has also put movie trailers in top search results behind a plus box (couldn’t find you an example).
Barry at SEL noticed that a search for Bluenile (the online jewelry store) now features a plus box with product images.
Google also does this with map results and local advertisers:
It makes sense for Google to do this on multiple levels. Search IS a branding vehicle and the content that can be placed behind the plus box is often valuable. The “genius” of the system is that it doesn’t place obtrusive display ads in front of users, they need to “opt-in” by clicking the plus box before seeing the graphical content.
This is one future for “performance display” advertising, which is normally thought of as CPC-based display. Yahoo has similarly experimented with bringing display advertising into search results.
October 24, 2008 at 5:11 am |
After the acquisition of DoubleClick Google got the much needed boost in the market for display advertising. Another feature from Google lets people search for quotations of those who’ve been quoted in stories indexed by Google News.