It is no secret that Google makes a ton of money not just by displaying ads on its search engine results pages, but also by syndicating them to related content pages via Google Adsense.  This, in turn, has helped a large number of web sites turn a profit, since they get a share of revenue whenever one of their site visitors clicks on a Google Ad.  (Note: both of these venues can be highly effective for advertisers as well – more on that in a later post….)

Until now, Microsoft has not actively promoted their alternative to Google AdSense.  This may change shortly.  I just came across this nifty review of Microsoft ‘AdSense‘ – (Better known as the Microsoft AdCenter). From what it appears, they still have a lot of catching up to before they can hope to make any serious inroads into Google’s dominance. 

It looks like they haven’t quite figured out how web site owners will make more money with the Microsoft way of doing things.  Until then, Google has nothing to fear…

Time will tell.

This just in… As InfoWorld reports in its newest issue, Google can now be used to search existing patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Although there are still some limitations to Google’s Patent search engine, it is a big step forward for would-be inventors. 

Speaking from personal experience, I am happy to see the power and usability of Google’s search engine being brought to bear on the large repository of US Patents.  Patent searching is a key activity for any budding inventor, and Google should be of tremendous help in this process.

You can find the Google patent search engine here.

  

Talk about Shoemaker’s Kids… While we have helped several clients to implement and maintain blogs on a variety of platforms, it is only now that we’re finally activating our own blog.  Our intent is to cover a variety of aspects of search engine related topics.  These include, of course:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Search engine marketing (SEM) via Pay-per-Click (PPC)
• And the optimization of press releases for optimal online visibilty.

OK – onwards and upwards.