There have been rumors of this occurring for a while now, and it finally looks like it’s coming to pass - soon Google will be offering another outlet for search marketers to display their ads in: print newspapers. Google will be conducting a 3-month test, displaying their ads across 50 newspapers with over 100 AdWords marketers participating in the trial.

According to the New York Times (which will be on of the newspapers allowing Google’s trial ads), the test will be conducted by newspapers owned by the following companies:

Hoping to reach out to a new crop of customers, such as small businesses and online retailers, many of the largest newspaper companies, including Gannett, the Tribune Company, The New York Times Company, the Washington Post Company and Hearst, have agreed to try the system in a three-month test set to start later this month.

The article also quotes Tom Phillips, director Google’s print operations. Phillips revealed Google’s attraction was related to the $48 billion spent yearly on newspaper advertising, which goes a long towards validating the point about Google no longer being just a search engine. In fact, the popularity of the search engine industry is what allowed them to become such the marketing force they are. It’s such a simple concept really:

1. 1. leverage your incredibly popular search engine results with contextually relevant text ads
2. 2. ?
3. 3. *Profit

Google’s newspaper print advertising campaign is expected to debut this week.

*this particular business model was originated by the Underpants Gnomes… Also, in regards to Google, there is no second step. 1 and 3 are all that’s necessary.

Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | WebProNews

Posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 1:34 pm. Permalink