Google’s ad delivery system is the focus of this New York Times story. “The number of searches and clicks, the rate at which users click on ads, the revenue this generates – everything is tracked hour by hour, compared with the data from a week earlier and charted.”
Google’s ad delivery system is one of a small group of Google employees who track what works and what doesn’t and their mission is “to constantly fine-tune Googleâs ad delivery system, has one overriding objective: show users only the ads they are most likely to be interested in and click on.”
The article notes there have been changes – clicks in some areas such as real estate and travel – have grown more slowly recently. However the relationship between clicks and revenue is only part of the story.
For those who use advertising on their website to earn money, this is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at what happens in what Google describe as a “recession resistant”.
The story is available from the New York Times website at nytimes.com/2008/06/02/technology/02google.html.