Google starts testing mobile AdWords in US, UK and Germany
By Vivek Puri | September 6th, 2006 at 10:53 pm ET
Google has started testing mobile Adwords in US, UK, and Germany. According to the Google Mobile Adwords FAQ, pricing for Mobile ads will be similar to pricing for regular Internet search but Smart pricing will not apply.
Users will be redirected to the advertisers web page or will have option to call business phone by clicking on the ad. Mobile ads will contain two lines of text, with a limit of 12 or 18 characters per line. Destination URL and Call link appear and if option is selected. Mobile ad bids may be slightly lower than those for standard text ads, but prices for individual keywords will vary.
Google wants to move early in mobile advertising market when Microsoft and Yahoo are busy building ad networks in the web space where Google Adwords is the king. The issue I see is that not many people are using mobile browsers to conduct searches on Google, given the low bandwidth and high data access charges. But things are changing rapidly in mobile space with emergence of new devices like Nokia N80 that can connect to both wireless and Wi-Fi networks. As more mobile devices are rolled out with Wi-Fi capabilities and wireless carriers move over to 3G networks, Google Mobile Adwords will be just in time to capture the market once again.
Links:
Google Mobile Adwords FAQ
Tags: StartupSquad, google, adwords, mobile
