Google’s Empowerment Model

Google is really two companies: Google the search engine and Google the business-services company. Together, the two sides form Google the media company. Along the same lines, Google is employed by two breeds of user: consumers who are searching and business partners of all sizes who seek online visibility.

Google’s two sides can’t be separated like an Oreo cookie; they’re stuck together by keywords. Keywords typed into the search engine are used also to determine the ads placed next to the user’s search results, because advertisers bid for the right to launch ads on those keywords. Those same ads are launched to thousands of partner sites in Google’s expanded advertising network. Even sites that don’t advertise but appear prominently on the search results page probably built their content and HTML coding around the very same keywords. As you can see, the consumer experience (finding destinations) and the business experience (finding customers) are inextricably linked by shared keywords. But make no mistake: We business users do not enjoy the same weight in the Google equation as consumer users. (Of course, most of us use Google’s front end as consumers, too.) Google’s first concern is the search experience, and the primary relationship is between Google and the consumer. Without satisfied searchers, the business side has no value. Consumers may freely focus on the search experience, with no awareness of the business forces competing in the background. But business users who ignore consumer-search priorities court their own downfall. At the top of this chapter, I stated that Google’s business model makes money when you do. But as I also mentioned, Google makes money even if you don’t. That’s not a situation Google likes, and it tries to help you correct it, as I discuss in Part II. Google wants you to succeed.

This reciprocity is built into Google’s advertising services in three ways:

_They are democratic. Anyone can get involved, from a first-time entrepreneur with a new Web site to a billion-dollar corporation. As in any great democracy, ingenuity, knowledge, and persistence can compete with, and sometimes triumph over, incumbency and deep pockets.

_ They are reciprocal. Google’s success is good for you, and your successis good for Google. Google’s consumer users win, too, when you work effectively in Google’s advertising programs. This three-way reciprocity is difficult to establish (and even measure) in traditional media advertising.

_ They are efficient. And that’s an understatement. Google’s innovations in search advertising strive for an ideal match of advertiser to customer,hinged on a keyword. You pay only for reasonably good matches recog nized by your potential customers. Google’s AdSense program, in which participating sites share ad revenue with Google, doesn’t cost the partic ipant a dime — now that’s efficiency.

eBay, the most successful dot-com venture through the collapse of the Internet bubble, was founded on the same three principles: democracy (anybody couldget involved), reciprocity (eBay and its users benefited when its participants succeeded), and efficiency (participants controlled their costs and tracked their returns). In time, the advantages of eBay’s system got the attention of midsize brick-and-mortar stores, which now operate eBay outlets as an essential part of their business plan. Much larger corporations routinely use eBay to dispose of inventory. The playing field is level and the economics are equally favorable, whether you are selling computers or a lamp in your attic.Google’s two prime-time revenue programs, AdWords and AdSense, have followed an adoption curve similar to eBay’s. Fashioned for universal participation, both programs were adopted first by small players — single Webmasters,entrepreneurs, and one-product companies. Word spread, and now both programs are in far-flung use by the Internet’s largest publishers, manufacturers,and e-tailers. As with eBay, small and large participants enjoy the same benefits.