Google launches free new tools for advertisers, publishers and users

Google today launched a new web measurement service that is aimed at boosting its ad sale business. The tool intends to help advertisers identify the best place to buy ads online.

Rod Shilkin, head of Google corporate communications in Australia, says Ad Planner data will be useful to Google advertisers as it will help them effectively scale more relevant online campaigns. “For publishers, we believe Ad Planner will provide more visibility for less frequently visited websites and those catering to niche audiences, thus making new advertising opportunities available.

He says for high traffic publishers, it will provide deeper insights into their audience composition and behaviour, allowing them to sell more targeted ads.

The new tool, which is free, is on a limited beta release. “It’s invite only, with no specific time for a full roll out,” he says. The new tool could pose a major threat to present web measurement businesses including Nielsen Online.

Nielsen gathers information on internet use by tracking what large panels of people do online or through surveys. It can cost a company more than $500 a month for a license. Google’s new tool, which is free, will be based on data from web servers and is expected to collect a deeper and broader view of internet use.

Shilkin says Ad Planner and another tool recently introduced, Google trends for websites, will provide insights into website traffic patterns, site visitations by geography and related websites and searches. “Ad Planner is not meant solely as a traffic management tool. We believe there is plenty of room in the industry for numerous measurement companies.”

He adds Google’s results may differ from other products because there are many different ways to measure traffic.

He says the data will come from a variety of sources including aggregated Google search data, aggregated opt-in anonymous Google analystics data, opt-in consumer panel data and other third party market research. It’s aggregated over millions of users and is powered by computer algorithms.

He adds Google’s results may differ from other products because there are many different ways to measure traffic.

Smaller companies should not worry. Google says that as an additional measure to protect user privacy, Google Trends/Ad Planner will only show results for sites that receive a significant amount of traffic and requires a minimum threshold for inclusion.

Read more on online metrics and Google analytics