Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Google Appoints Ann Mather to its Board of Directors

Mather to Chair Google’s Audit Committee

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – November 29, 2005 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced it has appointed Ann Mather to its Board of Directors. As a corporate finance executive who has driven accounting and strategic business initiatives for some of the world’s most recognized brand names for nearly 25 years, Mather will also serve as Chairperson for Google’s Audit Committee. Mather’s appointment was effective November 22, 2005.

"Ann Mather is an extraordinary leader in the financial community, and her experience abroad is a great enhancement to the Board’s global perspective," said Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google. "We look forward to engaging Ann’s vast accounting expertise as Chair of our Audit Committee."

"I’m one of Google’s biggest fans, and I believe whole-heartedly in its ability to help make the world a better place. I look forward to working with the esteemed Board to help guide Google’s finance and accounting platform," said Mather.

Ms. Mather has been a director on the Board of the Central European Media Enterprises group since April 2004, and serves on its Audit and Compensation Committees. She served as a director for Shopping.com from May 2004 until it was acquired by Ebay in 2005. She was Chair of Shopping.com’s Audit Committee, and was a member of their Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.

From 1999 to 2004, Ms. Mather was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Pixar. At Pixar she was responsible for finance, administration, business affairs, investor relations and HR. She was Pixar’s prime contact with Disney on distribution issues as part of the Disney/Pixar co-production agreement, served as the Company Secretary, and helped supervise construction of a new campus.

Prior to joining Pixar, Ms. Mather was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Village Roadshow Pictures, and held various executive positions at the Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles from 1993 to 1999, including Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for its Buena Vista International Theatrical Division. From 1992 to 1993 she worked for Disney in Paris to help start the international theatrical distribution arm in ten European countries.

Ms. Mather held various executive positions in Europe before joining Disney, including Alico (a division of AIG), and Paramount Pictures. While at Paramount, from 1984 to 1988, she worked in London, Amsterdam and New York. Prior to working for Paramount, she was based in London, where she worked for KPMG from 1981 to 1984.

Ms. Mather holds an MA from Cambridge University in England.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Media Contact:

Lynn Fox
+1 650 253 2642
lfox@google.com

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Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

AdSense Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up

Announcement
November 22, 2005

Today, Google announced Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up, a new feature that enables AdSense publishers to sign up advertisers directly from their pages. With this feature, a publisher’s Google ad units will display an ‘Advertise on this site’ link that takes interested advertisers to a landing page where they can quickly create an AdWords ad exclusively targeting that publisher’s site. Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up complements publishers’ sales efforts by enabling them to accommodate smaller advertisers that aren’t economically feasible for their sales force to manage. The feature also provides advertisers with new opportunities to reach targeted audiences online.

The new feature is an extension of Google’s site-targeted advertising, which was launched earlier this year. As with site-targeted ads generated through Google AdWords pages, ads created through Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up will compete in the same auction as all other Google ads, including keyword CPC text and image ads, and site-targeted CPM (cost-per-thousand impression) text and image ads. As a result of this increased competition, publishers can only increase their revenue from Google ads.

Beginning today, advertisers can customize the landing page advertisers will see with their logo, color scheme and site description. More information about Onsite Advertiser Sign-up can be found at: www.google.com/services/oasu/

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AdWords Separate Content Bidding

Announcement
November 22, 2005

Today, Google launched separate content bidding for Google AdWords. This enhancement to Google AdWords enables advertisers to place one bid for ads that run on content sites and a separate bid for ads that run on search sites within the Google Network. Previously, the single keyword bid placed by advertisers was applied to their ads on both search and content pages. In addition, the minimum bid for content is now a static $.01 (in the U.S.).

Google developed content bidding in response to advertiser requests for additional pricing and placement control of ads that run on content sites in the Google network. Advertisers are now able to place a bid for their content campaigns and smart pricing will reduce the cost the advertiser pays if the cost is still too high relative to the value it brings the advertiser. In conjunction with smart pricing, content bidding enables advertisers to effectively manage return on investment (ROI) for their content campaigns. Content bidding does not affect the way AdWords ranks ads or how it selects ads that run on content pages. AdWords will continue to rank ads by using a combination of Quality Score and maximum cost-per-click (CPC).

Content bidding is integrated into the existing AdWords campaign management interface and is available to all advertisers globally. This feature does not affect the site targeting feature, which is the tool that allows advertisers to target specific content sites in the Google network with text and/or image ads.

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Froogle Local

Announcement
November 22, 2005

Let’s face it. There’s bravery, and then there’s brave enough to hit the mall the day after Thanksgiving. Thanks to a new feature in Froogle, Google’s shopping search engine, shoppers can now find that must-have gift at a store in their neighborhood without running all over town.

Today Google announced the addition of local merchants’ content to Froogle froogle.google.com. By entering the item you’re looking for and your location information, Froogle will show locations nearby that offer the product and pinpoint the stores on a map. So, whether a user wants to order it online or run out and grab it for a holiday party the same evening, Froogle can help.

At the time of launch, Froogle will include local content from several hundred merchants across the country. Froogle also makes it easy for local merchants to enter their own product inventory even if they don’t have e-commerce capabilities. Merchants can simply upload a file containing information about their products by visiting www.google.com/sellonfroogle.

In addition to local content, Froogle now offers users brand and related-search suggestions for quickly narrowing results. As always, Froogle still includes convenient shopping list and wish list features that will come in handy for the holidays. In addition to searching for gifts, you can do a little shopping for yourself, add items to your wish list, and share it with others.

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Thursday, November 17, 2005

Google Continues International Expansion, Opens Offices in Latin America

Company Launches Operations in So Paulo, Mexico City

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – November 17, 2005 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced its continuing international expansion with the launch of two Latin American operations centres in So Paulo, Brazil and Mexico City, Mexico. These new offices will enable Google to provide the best advertising services and search experience to its users, advertisers and partners in Brazil, Mexico and throughout Latin America.

"The online environment in Latin America is changing rapidly with the infrastructure for high-speed Internet access expanding, and with it e-commerce," said Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, vice president, Asia Pacific and Latin America operations, Google Inc. "Google’s Latin America teams will partner closely with businesses, advertisers and agencies throughout the region to enable them to capitalize on the significant opportunities this brings."

Google’s Mexico operation is led by Gonzalo Alonso, formerly Director of Sales at T1MSN. In Brazil, Google’s operation is led by Alexandre Hohagen, who was previously general manager for HBO in Brazil. Alonso and Hohagen bring to Google many years of extensive and diverse experience in Mexico and Brazil, as well as markets throughout Latin America.

As general managers for Google in their markets, Alonso and Hohagen will work with Google’s current Latin America clients and continue to develop Google’s client base in the region. Google’s Latin American advertisers already represent a wide variety of companies including Mercado Libre and Dell in Mexico, and Wal-Mart in Brazil.

The launch of operations in Latin America further demonstrates Google’s ongoing commitment to expanding its international business, and developing the search advertising market in new regions around the world. The office in Sao Paulo, Brazil follows the acquisition of Brazil’s Akwan Information Technologies Inc. in July of this year. Akwan has become Google’s R&D centre in Brazil.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.mx and www.google.com.br.

Media Contacts:

Daniel Lemin
+1 650 253 4405
dlemin@google.com

Megan Quinn
+1 650 253 4944
meganq@google.com

###

Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may
be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Announcing Google Base

Announcement
November 16, 2005

Today, we launched Google Base, a free online service where users can submit all types of online and offline content that Google will host and make searchable online. Google Base is currently in beta and can be found on the web at
base.google.com.

Google Base is an extension of Google’s existing content collection efforts such as our traditional web crawl system – as well as Google Sitemaps, Google Print and Google Video – all which enable content owners to easily make their information searchable via Google. The goal of Google Base is to improve the overall quality and breadth of Google Search results by collecting even more information about a wider diversity of content.

Similar to a database, Google Base enables content owners to describe and assign attributes to the information they upload and uses this meta-data to better target search results to what users are looking for. For example, if a chef chooses to upload their very best recipe for tamales he/she can further describe that recipe with a photo or by assigning attributes such as "medium-spicy" or "spicy." When a user searches for the word [tamale recipes] from the Google Base homepage they will be presented with a list of recipe results accompanied by a list attributes at the top of page which enable them to further refine their search to "medium-spicy" or "hot" tamale recipes.

Google Base also creates a new opportunity for content producers to submit any kind of information even if it’s not a web page or online. This could range from an old family photograph to a large database of museum artifacts both of which may not have been previously accessible online. As part of the early-stage beta, Google has been working with a variety of commercial and non-commercial information providers. Some of which include:

  • ArtNet – an online art information source and marketplace is uploading information on artworks, artists, galleries and auction records.
  • CareerBuilder – an online job listing site is uploading its listings with various attributes including geographic location, field of profession and other information.
  • Collegeboard.org – a not-for-profit membership organization is uploading free information for students and parents about college admissions, financial aid, college selection, and other college planning resources.
  • StepUp – a local shopping services company uploading product lists from a variety of local retailers so that people searching can learn where to by products from stores near them.
  • World Resources Institute – an environmental think tank is uploading links to data on sustainability issues such as climate change, human health, and resource consumption.

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Base complements Google’s mission by making the information on Google easier to organize and search through. This announcement demonstrates our ongoing efforts to make more types of information discoverable online.

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Monday, November 14, 2005

Web Analytics Free of Charge, Courtesy of Google

Powerful web analytics service now available to all businesses

Mountain View, Calif. Nov. 14, 2005 – Today, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that its hosted web analytics service, Google Analytics, is now free. Formerly known as Urchin from Google, Google Analytics helps businesses use performance data to improve their online marketing campaigns and websites. With Google Analytics, businesses can determine what keywords attract the most visitors, which email campaigns create more customers, and how to design web pages that hold people’s attention.

“We want to give all online marketers and publishers access to powerful web analytics to help them better understand what their customers want. With this knowledge, businesses can create more accurate advertising and build better websites,” said Paul Muret, Google engineering director, and one of the founders of Urchin. “By making this powerful service free, we aim to give all websites – large and small – the tools they need to better serve their customers, make more money, and improve the web experience for everyone.”

Google Analytics can enhance every aspect of online marketing – from selecting and bidding on effective keywords, to determining the most relevant offers in email campaigns, to optimizing website design. By acting on this information, businesses of all sizes can attract more visitors, convert more prospects to customers, and improve the overall return on their marketing investment. Google Analytics is simple enough for businesses new to web analytics to get started quickly, and sophisticated enough for the most advanced online marketers.

In addition to being free, Google Analytics includes:

  • Integration with Google AdWords, and works with any online ad network: Users of Google AdWords can access web analytics from a new interface within their AdWords account. Google Analytics automatically tags keyword destination URLs (which saves time and reduces the potential for errors), and imports cost data for ROI reports (for fast set-up and ease-of-use). Google Analytics is also able to track the results of any online marketing campaign, including banner ads, referral links, email newsletters, and organic and paid search.
  • New reporting dashboards: Google Analytics executive summary reports for the three most common decision makers – executive, marketer, webmaster – will ease access to crucial information across departments.
  • Global reach: Immediately available in 16 international languages: UK English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Russian.

Google Analytics runs on the same computing infrastructure that powers Google.com so it can support the traffic demands of any site, from those with a few visitors a week to hundreds of millions. Google Analytics is already used by many of the top properties on the web, including dozens of Fortune 500 companies. Businesses such as The Financial Times, National Semiconductor, Ritz Interactive, Agency.com and Deckers Outdoor Corporation use Google Analytics to improve the user experience and marketing effectiveness of their websites.

“Much like it did with web search – Google is making web analytics simpler and more accessible for millions of sites on the web,” said Jeff Saville, marketing manager at Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Teva, Ugg, Simple Shoes). “With the new features, and the fact it is free, Google Analytics will give us a much clearer view of how we’re serving our customers, and the information we need to make it better.”

Google Analytics is available immediately for free to existing customers of Urchin from Google, as well as all new customers. Free online support is also available. Businesses can obtain customization or advanced integration from Google representatives and select Google service partners.

More information about Google Analytics can be found at www.google.com/analytics/.

Please visit www.google.com/press/images.html for video sound bites and b-roll for this announcement.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Media Contacts:

Michael Mayzel
650.253.4565
mmayzel@google.com

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Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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Thursday, November 10, 2005

Personalized Search Graduates from Google Labs

Announcement
November 10, 2005

We’re happy to announce that today Google Personalized Search graduated from Labs and is ready for prime time. As part of our continued efforts to improve the quality of search results, Personalized Search will now be offered to all users when they create a new Google Account.

Personalized Search is an improvement to Google search that orders results based on previous queries. Learning from the history of searches and search results that have been clicked on, Personalized Search brings certain results closer to the top when it’s clear they’re most relevant to the user. For example, a user who recently searched on iPod accessories who enters a query on [apple] would be shown results related to the computer manufacturer before those related to fruit.

In addition to coming off Labs, Personalized Search also now includes several new features, such as:

  • Bookmarks & Searchable Labels: Users can now create bookmarks and add searchable labels and notes to any item in their search history to help organize their information. Since these are created through a Google Account, this information is accessible from any computer by signing in to their account.
  • Remove Results: This new feature offers users greater control over search results by enabling them to remove unwanted results from future searches. Users can remove a single page or an entire site, for one search or all future searches.
  • International Expansion: Personalized Search is now available in 39 domains, in 12 languages. The Personalized Homepage is also now available in 17 domains, in 12 languages.

In addition to enhancing product functionality, we continue to take proactive steps to protect user privacy and give users control of their personal data. Expanding on our existing options for easily pausing the service or removing items from search history, we are also adding increased password protection for stronger security.

For more information on Personalized Search, please visit www.google.com/psearch.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Google Enterprise Announces Search Replacement Program

Announcement
November 8, 2005

Google today announced a search replacement program whereby any business that replaces its existing search solution with a Google Search Appliance by the end of the year will receive a free Google Mini. More than 2,000 businesses worldwide use Google’s search products to deliver Google-quality search results to customers, employees and partners.

"Given the recent turmoil with providers of legacy search solutions, there has never been a better time to upgrade your company’s search to Google," said Dave Girouard, general manager of Google Enterprise. "This program allows companies to upgrade both their internal and public-facing search solutions all in one quick step."

The Google Search Appliance is an integrated hardware and software search solution that enables corporations, universities and government agencies to deliver Google-quality search results on their corporate network and public websites. To find out more information about Google’s replacement program, please visit www.google.com/switch.

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Thursday, November 3, 2005

Google Desktop out of beta

Announcement
November 3, 2005

After extensive tire-kicking and test-driving, we’re happy to announce that Google Desktop 2 is coming out of beta with a number of enhancements, new third-party panels, and expanded plug-in development options. Google Desktop is a free downloadable application that combines desktop search with an intelligent sidebar that learns the user’s habits and interests to offer all the information of interest to them in one convenient location.

And, for those of you who spend most of your waking lives at work, you’ll be glad to know that Google Desktop for Enterprise is having a little coming out party of its own! In conjunction with the Google Search Appliance and Mini, Google Desktop for Enterprise delivers one-stop searching across the desktop, intranet and the web.

The daily grind might be hard, but finding-the-proposal-that-you-vaguely-remember-e-mailing-that-guy-in-London-six-weeks-ago, is easy. Just part of our continued commitment to give our users the power of Google at the office.

Product additions include:

  • Personalized Maps Panel – This new Sidebar panel rotates through maps relevant to the user’s location and interests. Like most features in the Sidebar, the panel is auto personalized and does not require input from the user unless they’d like to customize the display. In addition to maps based on the user’s activity and location, the map rotation also includes maps of popular locations around the world such as Paris, Hong Kong, and Cairo.
  • Enhanced API – New support for script based plug-ins makes developing panels for Sidebar much easier. Now developers and non-developers alike can use simple JavaScript to write powerful plug-ins with great results. Additional details on the updated Google Desktop API are available at desktop.google.com/developer.html.
  • New Third-Party Plug-ins – Dozens of new Sidebar panels have been developed using the Google Desktop API. A few notable examples include panels for iTunes and Winamp, a dictionary, and an American Express panel to track and view credit card transactions in real time.
  • Enterprise Features – Google Desktop for Enterprise provides enhanced administration, integration and security features for business environments. Through a collaborative effort between Google and IBM, this release also offers improved search across IBM Lotus Notes messages.

The Google Desktop team is also launching a new blog today for user and developers to find out the latest information about Google Desktop. Check it out at googledesktop.blogspot.com.

Google Desktop and Google Desktop for Enterprise are both free and can be found at desktop.google.com and desktop.google.com/enterprise/, respectively.

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Google Makes Public Domain Books Accessible To The World

Google Print Unveils Collection of Public Domain Books from Libraries at University of Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, and the New York Public Library

Mountain View, Calif. Nov. 3, 2005 – Today, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced the availability of the first large collection of public domain books on Google Print. This collection, scanned as part of the company’s book digitization project with several of the world’s largest libraries, includes works such as U.S. Civil War history books, government documents, the writings of Henry James and other materials.

Because they’re out of copyright, these cultural artifacts can be read in their entirety online at print.google.com, where anyone can search and browse every page. They are fully searchable and users can save individual page images.

"Today we welcome the world to our library," said Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan . "As educators we are inspired by the possibility of sharing these important works with people around the globe. Think of the doors it will open for students; geographical distance will no longer hamper research. Anyone with an Internet connection can search the text of and read the compelling narratives, historical accounts and classic works offered today, and in doing so access a world of ideas, knowledge and discovery."

Examples of the public domain books available on Google Print today include:

  • Civil War regimental histories and early American writings from the University of Michigan

  • Congressional acts and other government documents from Stanford

  • The works of Henry James from Harvard

  • Biographies of New York citizens and other collected biographies from the New York Public Library

More information and images of pages from these materials can be found on the Google Blog at googleblog.blogspot.com. These works however are just a small fraction of the information that will eventually be made available as a result of Google Print.

"Our goal is to make these public domain books and the knowledge within them accessible to the world," said Susan Wojcicki, vice president of Product Management at Google. "Any researcher or student, whether they’re in New York or New Delhi can now research and learn from these books that previously were only available in a library. This underscores the value of Google Print and the work we’re undertaking with our library partners."

The Google Print program was introduced in the fall of 2004 to help users search through the oceans of information contained in the world’s books and to help authors and publishers promote their books and expand their sales. Google is working directly with publishers through the Google Print Publisher Program and libraries through the Google Print Library Project to digitize the world’s books.

Users can visit print.google.com to search only the Google Print index for book results; however, the Google Print index is also integrated into Google.com web search results pages. As they can with web pages, users can search the full text of every book Google has scanned and, when they find a book that interests them, view a card catalog-like entry with brief excerpts of their search term in context. Users can only see more of any book they find if the book is out of copyright or if the publisher has given explicit permission to show full pages of a limited portion of the book.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Media Contacts:

Nate Tyler
Google Inc.
+1 650-253-4311
nate@google.com

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Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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