chapter 18: google in three parts: search, online advertising, and an alphabet of opportunity
every time
Ad ranking and cost-per-click calculations take place as part of an automated auction that occurs ____ _____ a user conducts a search
ad formats
in some cases images or video may be expected to perform higher
market capitalization (market cap)
The value of a firm calculated by multiplying its share price by the number of shares. made Google the most valuable media company on the planet
consumer
Top Google advertisers among larger, ______ firms include Amazon, Quicken Loans, State Farm, Home Depot, Apple, Sears, Expedia, Capital One, Walmart, JCPenney, BestBuy, and eBay
indexing
command to stop Web crawlers from ______ a page, following links, and listing archives of cached pages 〈META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW, NOARCHIVE"〉
features
Google has offered additional ______ to give users a reason to stick with its search and map products. For example, a new hotel format offers the ability to see high-quality photos and hotel ratings and book a hotel right from within a Google listing. A new car format allows a panoramic scroll through the car, the ability to "build and price" a car, and find a dealer. A mortgage format allows for side-by-side comparisons. And a new restaurant format can directly summon a food delivery service via deep link.
brands
Google has one of the world's strongest _____
AdSense
Google originally developed _____ to target ads based on keywords automatically detected inside the content of a website. A blog post on your favorite sports team, for example, might be accompanied by ads from ticket sellers or sports memorabilia vendors. Ads can also be targeted based on other criteria, such as the profile of the user visiting a web page. And Google will serve ads to be displayed inside apps, as well. _____ and similar online ad networks provide advertisers with access to the long tail of niche websites by offering both increased opportunities for ad exposure as well as more-refined targeting opportunities.
machine learning
Google has also designed several versions of its own custom silicon for ______ ______, something it calls the TPU for tensor processing unit (TensorFlow is a type of Google-nurtured machine learning tool)
sites
Google runs ads not just in search, but also across a host of Google-owned _____ like Gmail, Google News, and Blogger
AI
Google uses ____ to monitor data center performance If it finds that one of its predicted outcomes doesn't match a current finding (e.g., the temperature is higher than what formulas suggest), this acts as a sort of data center equivalent of a car's "check engine light." ____ will then suggest a course of action, like clean an air-filtering heat exchanger or check other systems
Googleplex
Google's headquarters where employees are lavished with perks meant to circumvent everything that gets in employees' way
information
Google's stated mission is "to organize the world's __________ and make it universally accessible and useful"; advertising drives profits and lets the firm offer most of its services for free
display (or image) ads
Graphical advertising (as opposed to text ads). such as horizontally oriented banners, smaller rectangular buttons, and vertically oriented "skyscraper" ads
geotargeting
Identifying a user's physical location (sometimes called geolocation) for the purpose of delivering tailored ads or other content. On Google AdWords, for example, advertisers can specify that their ads only appear for Web surfers located in a particular country, state, metropolitan region, or a given distance around a precise locale. They can even draw a custom ad-targeting region on a map and tell Google to only show ads to users detected inside that space.
bid value, quality score, impact of extensions and ad formats
Google has developed a precise ad ranking formula that rewards top performing ads by considering three metrics
influential
inks from websites that Google deems "______" have greater weight in PageRank calculations than links from run-of-the-mill sites.
matchmaking
pairing Internet surfers with advertisers and taking a cut along the way
HTML code
the language used to describe a website what if you want the content on your website to remain off limits to search engine indexing and caching? Organizations have created a set of standards to stop the spider crawl, and all commercial search engines have agreed to respect these standards. One way is to put a line of _____ _____ invisibly embedded in a Web page that tells all software robots to stop indexing a page, stop following links on the page, or stop offering old page archives in a cache. Users don't see this code, but commercial Web crawlers do.
the largest division of the massive tech conglomerate now known as Alphabet that has "revolutionized access to knowledge, invigorated democratic forces, boosted productivity and spawned innovation on a scale unrecognized since the dawn of civilization."
bid value
the maximum CPC that an advertiser is willing to pay
relevant
the more ______ your ad, and the better the experience of the consumer who clicks that ad, the higher your quality score, and the higher your quality score, the better your ad's position and the less you'll have to pay per click.
results
Not only are search ads highly targeted, advertisers only pay for _____
Ads by Google
websites that are running ads for Google in exchange for a cut of the take Participants range from small-time bloggers to some of the world's most highly trafficked sites. Google lines up the advertisers, provides the targeting technology, serves the ads, and handles advertiser payment collection. To participate, content providers just sign up online, put a bit of Google-supplied HTML code on their pages, and wait for Google to send them cash (websites typically get about seventy cents for every AdSense dollar that Google collects)
moonshot
wildly ambitious and risky multi year research efforts Google pursues many of these, including driverless cars, smart contact lenses
cached
Refers to a temporary storage space used to speed computing tasks.
ad rank
= f (Maximum CPC, Quality Score, expected impact of extensions and formats)
pay per click (PPC or cost per click/CPC)
A concept where advertisers don't pay unless someone clicks on their ad.
uninterrupted power supply (UPS)
A device that provides battery backup when the electrical power fails or drops to an unacceptable voltage level. Instead of using big _____ _____ ____ systems common in most data centers, Google put smaller battery backups next to each server. These cost less; are more efficient, because they leak about 15 percent less energy than big units; and don't have heavy cooling costs.
deep linking
A link that takes a user to a specific webpage (rather than the home page), or which launches an app and brings up a unique location rather than just launching the app. As an example, a deep link from Pinterest might take a user directly to the Etsy web page or app listing featuring the vendor of that item, rather than generically opening Etsy.com or the Etsy app. allows an advertisement to launch an app and call up requested information, say, clicking a Pinterest link for a vintage handbag and jumping immediately to bag vendor's page within the Etsy app. And, of course, this app-to-app advertising cuts out Google even further.
server farms
A massive network of computer servers running software to coordinate their collective use. Server farms provide the infrastructure backbone to SaaS and hardware cloud efforts, as well as many large-scale Internet services.
quality score
A measurement of ad performance (CTR) and ad relevance, and landing page experience. Ads that are seen as relevant and that consumers respond to have higher quality scores. The firm uses quality score multiplied by the maximum CPC to determine an ad's display ranking.
global positioning system (GPS)
A network of satellites and supporting technologies used to identify a device's physical location. if a user provides location values such as a home address or zip code to a website, then that value might be stored and used again to make a future guess at a user's location.
power usage effectiveness (PUE)
A ratio that measures how much power enters the computer facility or data center against the amount of power required to run the computers and devices. standard used to measure data center efficiency 1.0 is a perfect score—it means all the power a facility draws is put to use. Everyone loses power; 2.0 (meaning half the power drawn is wasted) is considered a "reasonable number." Google regularly runs PUEs below 1.1—astonishingly efficient
content adjacency problems
A situation where ads appear alongside text the advertiser would like to avoid.
Wi-Fi
A term used to brand wireless local-area networking devices. Devices typically connect to an antenna-equipped base station or hotspot, which is then connected to the Internet. Wi-Fi devices use standards known as IEEE 802.11, and various versions of this standard (e.g., b, g, n) may operate in different frequency bands and have access ranges.
proxy servers
A third-party computer that passes traffic to and from a specific address without revealing the address of the connected user.
IP address
A value used to identify a device that is connected to the Internet. IP addresses are usually expressed as four numbers (from 0 to 255), separated by periods.
dynamic search ads
Ads generated automatically based on the content of a website. Dynamic ads are particularly useful for firms with rapidly updating inventory or firms struggling to keep up with new search terms that may be relevant to their product lines. This is useful if you have a constantly changing and updating inventory or are having difficulty tracking the ever-evolving search terms that may be relevant to users looking for products and services that your site offers.
keyword advertising
Advertisements that are targeted based on a user's query. the ads you'll see to the right (and sometimes top) of Google's organic search results are text ads Advertisers bid on the keywords and phrases that they'd like to use to trigger the display of their ad. Linking ads to search was a brilliant move, since the user's search term indicates an overt interest in a given topic.
return on investment
Advertisers get a running total of ad performance statistics so that they can monitor the _____ ___ _______ and tweak promotional efforts for better results.
contextual advertising
Advertising based on a website's content.
PageRank
Algorithm developed by Google cofounder Larry Page to rank websites. popularity contest webpages that have more pages linking to them are ranked higher
link fraud
Also called "spamdexing" or "link farming." The process of creating a series of bogus websites, all linking back to the pages one is trying to promote.
Internet
As more people spend more time online, advertisers are shifting spending away from old channels to the _______, and Google is benefitting
ad network
An effort that links advertisers to websites and other content providers (e.g., app firms, games) that are willing to host advertisements, typically in exchange for payment.
mobile, AI
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly at the heart of these innovations—so much so that Google's CEO has said the firm has moved from "_______ first" to "_____ first."
power consumption, cooling requirements
Each server farm layout has also been carefully designed with an emphasis on lowering _____ ______ and ______ ______
impressions
Each time an ad is shown to a user. the number of times an ad is shown on a website, whether a user clicks on an ad, and the product purchases or other website activity that comes from those clicks most graphical display ads are sold according to the number of ______
Google Display Network
Google bundles its third-party AdSense partners in with its own content properties (e.g., YouTube, Google Finance, Blogger, Gmail), calling this big pool of distribution for your ads the ____ ____ ____
half
Facebook, Bing, Yahoo!, AOL, Twitter—add up all their advertising revenue and combined they're less than _____ of Google's
mobile friendly
For searches performed on mobile devices, Web pages that meet Google's criteria for being "_____ _____" will be ranked higher than those that don't have an option for mobile devices (Google does offer testing tools to see if your pages are compliant)
purchasing intent
Google ads show up when many users have some sort of _____ ____. This makes Google search ads far more effective than standard display ads like those on Facebook Google's ability to tie advertising to _____ _____ (or to some other action that advertisers are willing to pay for) is the main reason the firm's ads are so valuable
AdWords
If an advertiser wants to display an ad on Google search, they can set up a Google _____ advertising account in minutes, specifying just a single ad, or multiple ad campaigns that trigger different ads for different keywords. Advertisers also specify what they're willing to pay each time an ad is clicked and how much their overall ad budget is, and they can control additional parameters, such as the timing and duration of an ad campaign
deep Web
Internet content that can't be indexed by Google and other search engines. a lot of content lies inside the "_____ ______" either behind corporate firewalls or inaccessible to those without a user account—think of private Facebook updates no one can see unless they're your friend—all of that is out of Google's reach
scale economies
It also doesn't hurt that Google's search ad business is a great way to gain exposure for its other ad offerings. More participants bringing in more revenue also help the firm benefit from ____ _______—offering a better return on investment from its ad technology and infrastructure. All this has worked to help Google build an ad network that serves nearly four times the ads of its nearest rival
negative keywords
Keywords that prevent an ad from showing up when specific terms are present.
rich media ads
Online ads that include animation, audio, or video. an include animation or video and sometimes encourage user engagement or interaction
green goals
Saving energy helps the firm meet its _____ _____—the firm is formally committed to being carbon neutral and offsetting its fossil fuel energy needs—but the data centers also help meet other "green" goals: massive cash savings
organic or natural search
Search engine results returned and ranked according to relevance.
hackers
Since it's such a big target for hackers, the firm designs its own custom hardware security chips that are inside its servers and peripherals. These chips allow Google to identify and authenticate its own infrastructure at the hardware level.
spiders, Web Crawlers, software robots
Software that traverses available websites in an attempt to perform a given task. Search engines use spiders to discover documents for indexing and retrieval. firms use software to crawl the Web and uncover as much information as they can find The spiders ask each public computer network for a list of its public websites. Then the spiders go through this list ("crawling" a site), following every available link until all pages are uncovered.
colocation facilitites
Sometimes called a "colo," or carrier hotel; provides a place where the gear from multiple firms can come together and where the peering of Internet traffic can take place. Equipment connecting in colos could be high-speed lines from ISPs, telecom lines from large private data centers, or even servers hosted in a colo to be closer to high-speed Internet connections.
online promotion, advertising
Studying Google gives us a platform for understanding _______ _______ and ________, as well as a living case on how quickly technology-fueled market disruptions can happen, and how deeply these disruptions penetrate various industries
true
T/F: Ads that don't get many clicks, ad descriptions that have nothing to do with query terms, and ads that direct users to generic pages that load slowly or aren't strongly related to the keywords and descriptions used in an ad will all lower an ad's chance of being displayed
true
T/F: Americans (and citizens in many other nations) spend more time on mobile devices than they do watching TV
true
T/F: Google impacts workforce empowerment (search, apps, software, devices); promotion (organic search and paid ads); and infrastructure (cloud).
true
T/F: Google's AI tools are widely considered to be leaders, and with its massive server farm, growing data hoard (think about how much data you regularly feed Alphabet products), and algorithmic lead, it intends to keep it that way
true
T/F: In many cases it's possible to make an accurate guess as to where a computer, laptop, or mobile phone is located simply by cross-referencing a device's current IP address with this public list.
true
T/F: In most cases the firm uses the kind of Intel or AMD processors, low-end hard drives, and RAM chips that you'd find in a commercial PC. These components are housed in racks, slotted like very tight shelving. Each server is about 3.5 inches thick yet contains processors, RAM memory, and hard drives. Google buys so many components for its custom-built servers that it, not a PC manufacturer, is Intel's fifth largest customer
true
T/F: Making Google more relevant, especially on mobile, makes sense, but the new functionality comes with risks. Google's move into travel booking is upsetting some of the firm's biggest customers. Companies like Expedia and Priceline spend enough on advertising with Google to make up a 5% chunk of Google revenue. If Google can create increased ad revenue directly from hotels, airlines, and other travel providers, this might help make up the difference, but that's a serious bit of channel pressure and market shift that would need to happen. More troubling are potential legal issues. Priceline and Expedia are also members of FairSearch.org, a group that accuses Google of using its dominance in search and other products to favor its own services above those of rivals.
true
T/F: Over two-thirds of Google's revenues come from ads served on its own sites, and the vast majority of this revenue comes from search engine ads.
true
T/F: The abandoned e-mail replacement tool Google Wave, the defunct social network Google Buzz, and the firm's flubbed acquisition of Motorola for $12.5 billion (sold for $2.91 billion two years later) are just some of Google's more high-profile busts.
true
T/F: When an ad is clicked, advertisers don't actually pay their maximum CPC; Google discounts ads to the minimum necessary to maintain an ad's position on the page. So if you bid one dollar per click, but your overall ad rank is so good that you could have beat the ad ranked below yours even if you bid just ninety cents, then you'll pay just ninety cents if the ad is clicked
true
T/F: While most online desktop time happens via the Web browser, mobile users spend an estimated 86 percent of their time in apps and only 14 percent on the Web. This shift concerns Google. When you search for restaurant reviews in Google's search engine, it can serve you ads and continue to build your user profile. But if you search via Yelp's app on an iPhone, Google can't see you at all.
true
T/F: ds running through the Google Display Network or on most competitor networks can be displayed in several formats and media types, and can be billed in different ways
true
T/F: investment in server farms creates a a barrier to entry, and influences industry profitability, with market-leader Google enjoying huge economies of scale
true
T/F: reorganization under a holding company named Alphabet (same stock symbol), treats Google's core consumer businesses (e.g., search, mail, ads, and YouTube) as separate from other efforts, such as Nest home automation, Calico longevity initiatives, disease-tackling work of Verily, the self-driving cars and other "moonshots" of X, the firm's early-stage (GV) and later-stage growth (Capital) investment arms, and more
true
T/F: while the firm's performance in each space varies, the success of its ad business provides a massive cash hoard, which allows the firm to fuel experimentation, constantly innovate, tolerate failure, acquire aggressively, and patiently build new markets
landing page
The Web page displayed when a user clicks on an advertisement.
fault tolerant
The ability of a system to continue operation even if a component fails. Google assumes individual components will regularly fail, but no single failure should interrupt the firm's operations
grid computer
The firm's custom software (much of it built upon open source products) allows all this equipment to operate as the world's largest ____ _______ imagine that working alone (the human equivalent of a single-server effort), you need to try to find a particular phrase in a hundred-page document. That would take a while. Next, imagine that you can distribute the task across five thousand people, giving each of them a separate sentence to scan (that's the human equivalent of a multiserver grid). The speed difference between a single searching entity and a search involving many entities simultaneously focused on a subset of the same task gives you a sense of how search firms use massive numbers of servers and the divide-and-conquer approach of grid computing to quickly find the needles you're searching for within the Web's haystack
click through rate (CTR)
The number of users who clicked an ad divided by the number of times the ad was delivered (the impressions). The CTR measures the percentage of people who clicked on an ad to arrive at a destination-site.
search engine marketing (SEM)
The practice of designing, running, and optimizing search engine ad campaigns.
search engine optimization (SEO)
The process of improving a page's organic search rankings.
transparency
The reorganization is thought to offer more __________ for the performance of the firm's various businesses, and allow the company to structure compensation and job titles in a way that is competitive with startups taking similar risks
target
Various technologies and techniques also make it easier for firms to _______ users based on how likely a person is to respond to an ad
copy
When performing a search via Google or another search engine, you're not actually searching the Web. What really happens is that you're searching something that amounts to a ______ of the Web that major search engines make by storing and indexing the text of online documents on their own computers
distribution
While advertisers can use multiple ad networks, there are several key strategic factors driving the industry. For Google, its ad network is a _____ play. The ability to reach more potential customers across more websites attracts more advertisers to Google. content providers want there to be as many advertisers as possible in the ad networks that they join, since this should increase the price of advertising, the number of ads served, and the accuracy of user targeting. If advertisers attract content providers, which in turn attract more advertisers, then we've just described network effects!
IP addresses
___ _______ will change depending on how and where you connect to the Internet
search appliances
____ ______ can be vital tools for law firms, investment banks, and other document-rich organizations.
Android
_______ now tops the smartphone market share, and Google intends to extend the platform to PC, TV, car, home automation, and accessories such as Google Home (an Echo competitor), smart watches, virtual and augmented reality, and the firm's Stadia game streaming platform
query
a search
Alphabet
a wide-ranging, multifront war that includes mobile, browsers, cloud infrastructure, e-mail, office apps, social media, maps, e-commerce, payments, and more
exensions
added info like a phone number, address, store rating
death penalty
after JCPenny engaged in link fraud, Google both manually demoted JCPenney rankings and launched tweaks to its ranking algorithm. Within two hours JCPenney organic results plummeted, in some cases from first to seventy-first, organic search equivalent of the ______ ______
Siri
delivers results directly from Apple partners, making it the search broker, not Google
identical
different users may not see _______ organic search results. Google defaults to a mix of rankings that includes individual user behavior and, for those users searching while logged into Google accounts, social connections (although displaying generic results remains an option)
content providers
the websites that distribute ads)
increased user time online, improved measurement and accountability, targeting
three factors driving online ad growth trends