Friday, March 31, 2006

Google Introduces Local Business Ads Through AdWords

Announcement
March 31, 2006

In line with its commitment to add value to advertisers and users through local advertising, Google today announced local business ads, a new feature in AdWords that allows advertisers to promote location-based products and services. Local business ads appear with an enhanced map component on Google Local and in a text-only format on Google.com and other sites in the Google network. Currently, this service is available to any advertiser who targets locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

According to the Kelsey Group, 70% of U.S. households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services (March 2005). With local business ads, businesses can promote location-based products and services to users at the precise moment when they seek local information.

Up to three local business ads will display on Google Local below the normal search results. Each ad will be associated with a marker on the map that users can expand to reveal more information such as phone number and a customizable logo or image. Both small businesses and large chains can easily target multiple locations within a single Ad Group using the same keyword list – yet another way of targeting more customers more effectively. As with regular text ads, local business ads can be continually updated or enhanced based on user response or local promotions to give advertisers maximum campaign efficiency and flexibility.

For more information, please go to adwords.google.com/select/localbusinessads.html

Read more »

Google Inc. Announces Pricing of Common Stock Offering

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – March 31, 2006 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today the pricing of its public offering of 5,300,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a public offering price of $389.75 per share. The estimated net proceeds of the offering will be approximately $2.065 billion.

This offering of the shares of Class A common stock may be made only by means of a prospectus, a copy of which can be obtained from the offices of Goldman, Sachs & Co., Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004. Tel: (212) 902-1000. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

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:

Lynn Fox
650-253-2642
lfox@google.com

Jon Murchinson
650-253-4437
jonm@google.com

Investor Contact:

Maria Shim
650-253-7663
marias@google.com

Read more »

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Google Weekly Zeitgeist Highlights A Yen For Sports And A Yearning For Spring

Read more »

Google Inc. to Issue 5,300,000 Shares of Class A Common Stock

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – March 29, 2006 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it intends to issue 5,300,000 shares of its Class A common stock. This offering will partially meet the anticipated needs of index funds to purchase Google Class A common stock when Google is added to the S&P; 500 Index at the close of trading on March 31, 2006.

Proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures, and possible acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets. Goldman, Sachs & Co. will act as the sole underwriter for the offering.

This offering of the shares of Class A common stock may be made only by means of a prospectus, a copy of which can be obtained from the offices of Goldman, Sachs & Co., Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004. Tel: (212) 902-1000.

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:

Lynn Fox
650.253.2642
lfox@google.com

Jon Murchinson
650.253.4437
jonm@google.com

Investor Contact:

Maria Shim
650-253-7663
marias@google.com

Read more »

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

March Madness Extends to Google Weekly Zeitgeist

Read more »

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Google Finance Beta

Announcement
March 21, 2006

Today, Google is launching Google Finance Beta, a new way for users to search for and find financial information about public and private companies, as well as mutual funds.

Our goal with Google Finance is to enhance the user experience when searching for financial information and make this information useful and digestible for all types of users. Google Finance also strives to offer users a new way to understand stock performance.

While a lot of sites can tell users a stock moved, Google Finance offers context as to why by incorporating relevant news and blog postings. Say a favorite stock hit a high three months ago. Users can click and drag on an interactive stock chart to view the company’s performance in different time periods and map related news events to the stock. So, if a major company announcement or an analyst upgrade helped give the stock a boost, users will be able to more easily see a correlation between that information.

Some of the highlights in Google Finance Beta include:

  • Interactive Charts – Google Finance takes financial charts one step further by mapping market data with corresponding news stories in one interactive chart, so users can track news to stock performance. In addition, users can click and drag on the charts to see different time periods, and zoom in/out for more detailed information.
  • Search – Unlike many financial sites, Google Finance lets users search for public and private companies, as well as mutual funds, using both company names and ticker symbols. Users can also search for companies by the names of management team members.
  • News – Google Finance integrates the Google News service, which gathers stories from more than 4,500 English news sources worldwide. Google News is clustered in groups by news topic, rather than listed by date, so users do not have to scroll through multiple headlines on the same news story.
  • Blogs – Google Finance incorporates blog postings for related company information from Google Blog Search.
  • Discussion Groups – Google Finance helps users connect with each other by offering high quality discussion forums. To help ensure a high-quality experience, we have a team of folks dedicated to keeping the discussion groups free of spam and irrelevant posts.
  • Portfolios – Google Finance offers a fast and easy way to create and maintain your portfolio of stocks and mutual funds.

Google Finance is a free service, accessible from finance.google.com, the symbols on users’ Google personalized homepages and Google Desktop Sidebars, or by entering a ticker symbol into any Google search box.

Google Finance was designed to provide information about U.S. and international exchanges, companies and funds. Although the product is mostly focused on the North American market currently, you’ll see some international content on markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Paris and Toronto. We are committed to adding additional international content as quickly as possible.

Additional information is available in today’s blog post at googleblog.blogspot.com and a reviewer’s guide will be available shortly on our press center www.google.com/press/guides.html.

Read more »

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

The Real World Pulls People In To This Week's Google Zeitgeist

Read more »

Friday, March 10, 2006

Google to Locate Phoenix-Area Facility on Arizona State University’s Tempe Campus

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 10, 2006 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced plans to open an office on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University (ASU) as part of its continued efforts to build out a Phoenix-area operation. The new Google office will be primarily focused on engineering, operations and IT support functions and is part of its worldwide effort to build engineering centers in locations where there are great engineers.

"Our new location on the ASU campus will offer our employees the quality work environment we strive for, including access to ASU students, faculty and amenities," said Dr. Douglas Merrill, Google’s senior director of information systems. "We are looking forward to a long relationship with ASU and hope to make a positive contribution to their educational mission."

Google’s Tempe office will offer all the world-class workplace amenities that Google has become known for such as outstanding healthcare benefits, free lunches and competitive compensation packages. The company continues to look for a range of new employees to support a variety of business and technology operations.

"We are very excited to have Google join our campus and look forward to their contributions to our education, research and economic development missions," said Dr. Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University. "In addition to potential employment opportunities for our graduates, we hope Google’s presence on campus will inspire technology innovation and collaboration."

Douglas Merrill has joined the Ira Fulton School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering Advisory Board. Google and ASU are exploring additional opportunities for future collaboration such as adjunct faculty appointments for Google employees and internship opportunities for ASU students.

Google already employs a number of ASU graduates and looks forward to continuing to hire the best and brightest in the region. Google currently has a number of open positions in Arizona ranging from software engineers, to field technicians, network security experts to operations and IT support staff. Google is encouraging qualified applicants to submit their resumes on its website at: www.google.com/jobs.

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:

Sonya Borälv
Google Inc.
sonya@google.com
650-253-1821

###

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.

Read more »

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Oscar-Hued Golden Glow Dominates The Weekly Google Zeitgeist

Read more »

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Google Announces Newest, Most Affordable Mini

Announcement
March 2, 2006

The new Google Mini searches up to 50,000 documents and costs just $1,995, which includes a year of support.

We realize that often, less is more – especially for small businesses, with specific needs and tight budgets. And while thousands of Google Minis already search businesses’ intranets and websites www.google.com/enterprise/mini/map/, there are plenty of environments where even a 50,000-document capacity is more than enough.

The new Mini is smaller in capacity and price, but not in performance. It offers the same fast, relevant search results with an interface that’s as easy to use as Google.com. And since many small businesses don’t stay small, document capacities can be upgraded at anytime.

The Google enterprise group is constantly looking for ways to make search available for as many businesses as possible. By keeping innovation high and costs low, Google now offers a range of Minis – from the new 50,000 document capacity to versions with 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 document capacities.

So whether businesses are looking to search intranets or websites, there’s now a Google Mini with more – or less – of the right capacity.

To order Minis, companies can go to the Google Store

For more information on the new Minis and upgrades go here www.google.com/enterprise/mini/

Read more »

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Olympians Edge Out Other Cultural Interests In The Weekly Google Zeitgeist

Read more »