Google preps new tool to identify keywords

According to CNET, Google is preparing to launch a program that will determine what lists of keywords will be most likely to trigger a visit to an advertiser’s site. Google hopes that the technology will help increase the value of those clicks, and therefore the ceiling of their pricing, as well as include more searches in the ad program.

Only 40 percent to 45 percent of the 120 million Internet searches a day in the United States are currently linked to an ad by the search engines. This tool will apparently allow marketers to pay to have a Web page examined more often for inclusion in sponsored listings, according to one source. Instead of having to bid on thousands of keywords, a large advertiser could rely on Google’s search technology to automatically create connections between its Web pages and related search queries. The advertiser would pay Google to examine thousands of its pages and to serve an ad whenever the software deemed it appropriate.

The report says Overture, a Yahoo company, is saying they wish to stay with the human touch. They employ slews of account managers who help marketers invent new keyword combinations to drive people to their online stores, according to an Overture representative.

When I read this stuff, I think it only applies to the biggest of the big advertisers but lawyers as an industry are a large player. Sponsored ads/keywords are just in their infancy compared to the yellow pages. Lawyers pay almost $1 Billion for yellow page advertsing. Don’t think for a second the search engine folks do not look at that.