The Ad World According to Google

For those who are still wondering what all the hoopla surrounding the Google-DoubleClick merger is about, Google has chosen to explain. The essay posted on Google’s official blog is, of course, a bit self-serving, as it is a description of how the merger, if it goes through, will benefit everyone from online advertisers to publishers and consumers. In particular, there is no mention of the antitrust concerns raised by some companies, which are currently being reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission, or of the potential privacy pitfalls brought up by some advocacy groups.

Still, if you want to understand how ads are bought and sold online, if you want to know the difference between a text-based contextual ad and a display ad, if you care to learn the difference between AdSense and an ad server, the post provides as good an explanation of the online advertising world – or at least Google’s version of it.