Google & Yahoo! Ad Agreement: Just the Facts

Google must have known from the start that their search advertising deal with Yahoo! would create some confusion in the search marketing industry.

On June 12th the two companies announced an agreement to enter into a deal that could potentially put Google ads alongside Yahoo! search results. On that very same day one of the companies purchased two domain names: GoogleYahooFacts.com & YahooGoogleFacts.com. These domains remained unused until today when Google launched an informational/PR campaign explaining what it sees as the facts surrounding the deal.

Google gives a broad overview of the deal in three short bullet points:

* This is a non-exclusive deal that will strengthen Yahoo!.
* Ad prices will continue to be set by competitive auction.
* The deal is win-win for consumers, advertisers and publishers: more and better ads.

Google also provides this doc to further explain the agreement:

As much as I would like to believe that Google entered into the deal with the intention of increasing competition in the SEM industry, I just don’t think that is the case. The agreement has been under scrutiny since it was announced and the number of opponents to the deal has only increased as the expected October launch date grows nearer.

I will let you come to your own conclusions as to the merits and potential pitfalls of the deal. Personally, I think that the facts do speak for themselves. One simply needs to read between the lines and think for a moment about what they are seeing when they visit the Google-Yahoo! info site. If this is such a good deal it should be able to sell itself without the help of Google’s public relations department.

The ultimate fate of the Google-Yahoo! agreement will soon be known when the Department of Justice presents the results of its review sometime in early October. Stay tuned, things could get even more interesting.