Search Party: Where's Google AdWords Going Now?
According to various reports, users have received notices from Google that it would "retire" the service on March 23. That makes AdWords Business Pages for mobile the latest piece of Google's advertising network to bite the dust following Google's choice to close Google PrintAds in January and divest itself from radio advertising, eliminating 40 jobs, earlier this month.
Google has also added AdWords—its flagship, pay-per-click advertising product—to Google News searches in the U.S. That means text ads will now appear on the right side of a search results page on Google News, similar to the way they do in a regular Google Web search.
"Last November, we announced plans to begin experimenting with ads on a number of Google properties, including news query refinements within Google search," wrote Josh Cohen, a business product manager at Google, in a Wednesday posting to the Google News blog. "Today, we're continuing a similar experience for users by introducing ads on Google News search-results pages in the U.S. What this means is that when you enter a query like iPhone or Kindle into the Google News search box, you'll see text ads alongside your News search results."
Cohen said Google would continue to experiment with "a variety of formats" for its AdWords and other advertising pieces, including the use of embedded videos.
Google recently added ads to other Google services like Google Earth and Google Finance. In fact, one of the only places the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant has promised users would not see advertising is in Google Health, Google's personal health record.