Though Google denies that this change is anything more than a patent filing and test, eBay and craigslist… not to mention every newspaper in the country may be competing with the GoogleMonster for classified ad business next!
From the Mercury News
RECENT PATENT APPLICATION ANOTHER INDICATION
New evidence that Google intends to leap into the lucrative and competitive classified advertising business has surfaced, this time in the form of a recently filed Google patent application that details a new type of advertising aimed at individuals.
The new technology would let people sell things on Google much as they do on eBay or craigslist. Google’s application describes a technology dubbed “Google Automat” that would let people create ads in less than a minute. They would enter details about the item they want to sell, and Google’s technology would create a small text ad and a complementary page with the full listing information.
Under one scenario described in the patent application, advertisers would pay to have their ads appear alongside Google search results.
Revelation of the new technology — coupled with the recent discovery of Google Base, a service that would let people add content to an online Google database — suggests that the Mountain View company is ready to compete directly in the person-to-person selling of everyday goods, an area dominated by newspapers, eBay and craigslist.
“We know they’re out to own search. And it looks like they are out to change classified advertising,” said Jim Townsend, editorial director of consulting firm Classified Intelligence of Altamonte Springs, Fla. “It changes everything.”
Classified Intelligence discovered and wrote about the patent application this week. The patent application, which has not yet been approved, was originally filed March 24, 2004 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and published Sept. 29 of this year.
As described in the patent application, Automat shares many of the characteristics of Google’s popular AdWords program, the backbone of its ad business and its main source of revenue. That system allows advertisers to create their own ads and have them displayed alongside search results.
But AdWords requires advertisers to buy keywords that match certain search queries, a process that confuses some advertisers. Automat would not require keyword purchases; Google would apparently make its own attempts to match ads to search results.
michael milstead on November 14th, 2005 at 4:21 pm
Once again I read it here first, although this has been kicked around a little already I am not sure how it will affect me, I know I started my business on Ebay and still go back to get cash flow rolling in lean months, if Googles jumps in I will be at the front of this and take advantage of everything they have to offer, the only down fall which I just experienced was I live and die by Google, althougth I have good results with the others Google has more users period so Google will give ebay a run for its money and give us all some way else besides ebay, I will be at the front of this one. I also want to piont out that this blog and others are true money makes we all can follow.