Google Software: A Glimpse at the Future of Google Applications
March 11, 2009
In my analyses of Google Patent documents, I documented the number of inventions that have applicability to online advertising. This makes sense. If your $20 billion in annual revenue depended on online advertisers bidding to get in front of potential customers, you would invest in ad R&D as well.
Most of the 40 percent of Google’s inventions have an ad hook. But some of the wizardry operates beneath a digital kimono. Few outside of the GOOG itself get to see the hidden charms that Google’s billions have purchased.
You can glimpse some of the technology by exploring what Google calls its “Agency Toolkit”. You can locate the page here, but I am not sure if you have to be an authorized Google-holic to access the tools. My own goslings wrought the necessary magic for this addled goose. Your goslings may vary in capabilities, of course.
Here’s what Google said about its Agency Toolkit:
We know how busy you are planning, creating and measuring success for your clients. That’s why we’ve created this site: your one-stop shop for Google tools to make your job a little easier. Build effective advertising programs, optimize your performance, and uncover market insights using the resources outlined here. And each of these free tools is easy to use, helping you to efficiently support your clients.
What’s on offer? Quite a few interesting services and functions. I don’t want to spoil your fun when you work through the 18 tools and links for training on the Web page. Let me highlight two:
- A placement tool. Google described it this way: “Find and choose websites, RSS feeds and other placements in the Google content network where you want your clients’ ads to run. Identify placements by URLs, topics, or demographics.”
- An SEO troubleshooter. The Google wordsmiths wrote: “Find and choose websites, RSS feeds and other placements in the Google content network where you want your clients’ ads to run. Identify placements by URLs, topics, or demographics.”
The toolkit is important for three reasons:
First, it is making powerful functions available to non programmers found in advertising agencies. In my opinion, this approach to what once were script based tasks makes Google a potential disruptive force for information contractors
Second, the metaphor “tools” implies that the ad exec or you if you are your own ad agency you can pick and choose the right tool for the task at hand. Unlike the notion of tools used by Microsoft or Oracle, Google wants its tools to be used by “regular” people, not techies who have passed tests to prove they are worthy of the secrets that unlike the usefulness of software.
Third, the tools themselves are pure Google. That is clean with just enough eye candy available for those client presentations. Don’t believe me. Refresh your memory with http://trends.google.com, which is one of the tools in the kit.
Google is one of the leaders in making arcane and technically complex operations easy and, for some, interactive. Whether to tools provide the amount of control a user assumes he or she gets, the perception of control is what is important. Think of tools as an never ending supply of ice cream and snacks for the Mad Ave type Google customer. The process is so much fun, in my opinion, that is is easy to forget that those are real deflated dollars one is spending. Not even a newspaper’s haggard, desperate ad rep can match the Google Ad Toolkit for fun and results.
Stephen Arnold, March 11.009
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