Google Changes Cookie Policy, Privacy Concerns Remain
Google has decided to reprogram its data-tracking files to make it so that cookies are automatically deleted once every two years. At present, Google cookies are set to be deleted in 2038, far past the life expectancy of today's computers. This decision comes in response to Google's worries about the protecting the privacy of its users since the ID numbers contained within a user's cookies can be used to obtain personal information about him or her. In addition, information from cookies found in any Google service, including email, are fair game for police and other law enforcement investigations. The only drawback to this new security measure is that individual cookies are deleted every two years, not all of a given user's cookies as a whole. This means that each time someone uses the Google search engine or a Google service, he or she is adding new cookies, each of which have additional two-year waiting periods before they are deleted, to personal profiles. To compensate for this, Google suggests that people should manually delete their own cookies if privacy is a concern.
Google Introduces Custom Search Business Edition
Last week, Google introduced its new Google Custom Search Business Edition, aimed at small businesses. This new offering allows smaller businesses to add the Google hosted search service, which allows website visitors to search individual websites for product information, to their websites quickly and inexpensively. Executives at Google say the reason for the new service is that small businesses are often so concerned with placing well in Google search results that they invest all of their time and money into search engine optimization and online advertising, neglecting to help customers navigate through their sites once they are found. Custom Search Business Edition allows businesses to sign up in less than ten minutes and enjoy reporting features, customizable search results, and the reliability of Google's response times and infrastructure. Businesses will also have the option to include ads with the service or to turn off existing ads, and will also obtain access to new business integration features and support. Customers who already have Custom Search Business Edition are seeing huge increases in the number of leads coming from their websites, paying only $100/year for searching 5,000 pages to $500/year for 50,000 pages.
Yahoo! Unveils New Ad Delivery Platform
Yahoo! combines brand and direct marketing with its newest advertising delivery platform, SmartAds. Although still awaiting a patent, the service has already been announced and offers businesses the opportunity to have their ads delivered to users in a highly targeted fashion. SmartAds assembles display ads that match a user's specific query in real time, increasing the likelihood that that specific user will become a customer of the company responsible for the ad. SmartAds also allows companies to design their own creative ads and artwork, and then Yahoo!'s advertising technology runs it through the business's existing product/offer database, creating as many combinations of the supplied ad components as possible. This ensures that a business is not putting the same ads on every page. Yahoo! says its click-through rates with this platform are much higher than similar ads that are not customized. The company hopes SmartAds will further its goal of creating the foremost advertising and publishing program on the Web.
Microsoft Office Live Uses Ask Sponsored Listings
Microsoft Office Live has announced that it will be adding Ask's sponsored listings to its current pay-per-click service, AdManager, for small businesses. Microsoft has made this move in an effort to show businesses that search marketing is not complicated or expensive as many believe. By adding Ask's sponsored listings to its pay-per-click program, Microsoft is adding 59 million users to its platform. Microsoft executives say they hope to increase business for their customers by allowing AdManager users the option of using one service to manage search engine marketing campaigns on two of the five major search engines.