Google is test marketing a new sort of context sensitive search ad. The search giant is planning to move away from the all-text ad and towards more visually interesting ads with pictures, prices and more.

Google is experimenting with the new ad format, called the “product ad,” as a replacement for at least part of the all-text, headline-and-two-text-lines format ads that we have all been seeing everywhere since Google first started selling advertising. This would obviously be a large change for the search giant and for the rest of us as well.

The company announced the new ad program to a selected group of advertisers in an e-mail last week, and laid out some of the details that we can expect to see when the program goes live. Google is calling the program a beta, according to a Wall Street Journal story. The e-mail defines a product ad as including “specific information directly in the ad such as price and product image.”  They further say that they are “testing to identify the most effective ad formats.”

One more difference with product ads is that advertisers will bid on the commission they want to pay Google for actual sales that occur on the advertiser’s Web site instead of what they want to pay when a potential customer clicks on one of the ads. Product ads will be submitted through Google Base, just as they are now. However, Google says that it will provide “prominent placements” for ads submitted through the product ad program.

A Google spokeswoman said in a statement that the “test will only be visible to a small number of U.S. users” and emphasized that the company was “constantly experimenting with new features.” This is part of a sweeping move by the company to expand into new ad formats. As the core search ad business matures, the company is looking for new ways to increase revenue. Another recent new program targets banner and video ads, a market in which Google has historically not done well.

Even the giants of the business have to innovate in order to grow and succeed. It remains to be seen whether product and banner advertising will simply clutter the browsing experience of the average user, or if there will be some actual benefit to the user. It is more than likely that most users will continue to block or ignore most ads, regardless of what Google and other advertisers do.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 12:49 pm under Advertising, Google.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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