Google: The Advertising Engine

Google is most people’s favorite search engine on the web as of today, but, while they are synonymous with the word “search” they are also synonymous with the word “online advertising”.  Google brings in billions of dollars every quarter and most of that money is brought in via advertising through their AdWords program.  However, what a lot of people do not realize is that AdWords is not only for online advertising.  By using AdWords you can also advertise on TV and radio.

I have spoken with many people about Google’s revenue and growth in the advertising business but, rarely, if ever, does anyone ever mention that you can use Google to advertise on the TV and radio.  Why is this?  I’m not completely sure to be honest but, I would assume that generates a large amount of revenue for Google as well.

That being said, with Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick and advertising deals with other search engines such as Ask (and Yahoo at one point) and large social networks such as MySpace – they now control over 60% of the online advertising market space.  That is seriously a force to be reckon with.

While Google is a search engine that everyone likes (loves?), they are also an advertising engine which controls most of the advertisements on the web (and some companies are not too fond of).  Advertisements which are targeted to you based on search and surfing habits. Are people concerned?  Some are, but most do not even have a clue about how much information Google has actually obtained about them.

The two components of Google – search and advertising go hand in hand and it’s quite clear that is the case.  In these current troubled economic times I think Google is sitting in a rather comfy spot with their vast range of advertising platforms.  Online advertising is not only cheaper than traditional advertising but, can potentially be even more effective with Google’s  targeting techniques.

Google is indeed the advertising engine that could.

Note: I personally have no issues with Google collectiing information if it improves my search results and allows me to find what I’m looking for easier and faster – that is something I can live with.  I don’t mind their advertisements either – I even use them on my site.