Chief Economist of Google Invents a Search Tool for Advertising
December 21, 2009
Most companies don’t have a chief economist. Google has a chief economist. The economist is Hal R. Varian.
Dr. Varian has good paper.
Dr. Varian worked on a Google team which includes other Google wizards. The invention is “search tool advertising”. Definitely clear. In prose any patent attorney would be proud to claim, US2009/0299816 says:
A content item is presented to at least one user via a first medium, where the content item identifies a target concept. The first medium can be, for instance, radio, television, print advertisements, or the Internet. The number of requests at a search tool for the target concept are measured subsequent to the presentation of the content item in the first medium. The difference (e.g, increase or decrease) in use of a second medium, e.g., the Internet, subsequent to the presentation of the content item in the first medium can be measured, which can be used to modify a value associated with a subsequent presentation of the content item using the first medium.
Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?
The diagrams are abstract. The claims, all 30 of them, make clear that the Google is moving forward with the use of semi autonomous agents to assemble content. Although focused on advertising, the “assembly” plumbing can be seen elsewhere in Google’s open source information. (You think I am going to list these co-occurrences in a free Web log? Wrong.)
Several points strike me of interest:
- The invention applies to text and other media; for example, television or radio
- Metrics make the little method hum; that is, data from the system feed back and inform subsequent decisions the semi autonomous agents make
- The use of the word “publisher” makes clear that the “digital Gutenberg” is alive and kicking. See [0030].
Stephen E. Arnold, December 21, 2009
Oyez, oyez, this is a freebie. I want to disclose this fact to the Economic Adjustment Office. Google competitors will have to make some adjustments due to Google economics. Where better to report and seek succor?
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6 Responses to “Chief Economist of Google Invents a Search Tool for Advertising”
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[…] Chief Economist of Google Invents a Search Tool for Advertising, arnoldit.com […]
Reading this correctly what Google is doing is not a new search tool for advertisers but a method to correlate brand exposure to searches that happen on Google.com. Say for example, you run a superbowl ad on TV and then look at the search volume/data afterwards to see if there is any impact.
Back in 1998, Yahoo! was working on something very similar to this called the Yahoo! Buzz Index.
[…] Read this article on a project or paper rather, that Google released. In it, the author describes what some call advertising while others still, see it as a form of branding for a given product or service. […]
Search Tool for Advertising or Brand Exposure…
…
[…] Read this article on a project or paper rather, that Google released. In it, the author describes what some call advertising while others still, see it as a form of branding for a given product or service. […]
[…] Chief Economist of Google Invents a Search Tool for Advertising, arnoldit.com […]