In addition, Google has also ensured that its competitors DON'T get a stake in the company. Even though the MSN deal would have been more lucrative in the long run for AOL (that is, MSN was offering a share of all advertising revenue in the coming years) AOL felt the Google deal was better.

But there's more to the deal than just a cash-for-stock swap. They include:

• Creating an AOL Marketplace through white labeling of Google's advertising technology - enabling AOL to sell search advertising directly to advertisers on AOL-owned properties;
• Expanding display advertising throughout the Google network;
• Making AOL content more accessible to Google Web crawlers;
• Collaborating in video search and showcasing AOL's premium video service within Google Video;
• Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met; and
• Providing AOL marketing credits for its Internet properties.

So what does this mean to the companies?

Well, AOL expands its marketability. It can sell ads directly to its advertisers, allowing it to (likely) take a larger stake in those sales. Google's ad network also expands as it now has contact with the AOL advertisers. A win-win situation for both web properties.

Expanded display advertising throughout the Google network simply means that we will see more ads on the different Google properties. More ads translates into increased revenues for both companies. In addition to this there have been rumors that Google will explore image ads as part of its advertising model. While image ads have been available to AdSense sites, we haven't seen them appear on any Google property. This could (and likely will) change in 2006.

Making AOL content more available to Google crawlers and collaborating on video search again means increased potential for both partners. Google gets access to more of AOL's content which for the most part has been subscription based, while AOL learns how to improve its video search capabilities. Both companies reap rewards here, but I think the end user is the ultimate winner if the access to AOL content remains free to Google users.

Integration of AIM and Google Talk. Google is clearly the winner here. Since AIM is the largest IM client out there (that is it has the largest user base) Google has the opportunity to reach even more users.

Finally, providing credit to AOL for its internet properties means that AOL gets free advertising. This could be harmful to other AdWords advertisers as AOL has the opportunity to bid highly on some terms. This also means that AOL could receive preferential treatment.

On the other news front, Google has made a deal with Lexar, a leading manufacturer of flash based USB drives. This news barely made a ripple when compared to the AOL news however I feel it is just as significant, if not more so.

This is because as part of the deal Google software such as the Google Toolbar will be pre-installed on the flash drive. The drives will come with Google''s Picasa, Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search applications included.

To me this is perhaps as significant as the AOL deal simply because it increases Google's reach substantially. Google Desktop Search can be used to take over more of Microsoft's desktop share while Picasa helps users find and share images stored on the local machine. Of course the Toolbar allows people to quickly and easily search Google.

All these have the potential of ensuring that users of Lexar drives use Google rather than other engines like MSN or Yahoo! for their search features. This is because customers who purchase a Lexar drive simply have to plug the device into the USB port on their computers. They will then be prompted with instructions to easily install the free applications. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Further, if the person is using a computer which isn't online, having the ability to install these applications to make the computer more searchable is even more convenient. And of course, since it's a flash drive, anything that's searchable is storable.

That means that users can find items and store them on the drive for future reference.

Aside from this ability, imagine having the ability to carry Google around in your pocket? Because that is essentially what the drives allow you to do.

Here's an example. My father recently got a new computer and he wanted to transfer a lot of his programs and settings over. However he didn't have his new high speed internet connection installed yet so it was a very cumbersome process.

In addition, when he went to search for images, he found that Picasa was also gone (I had installed Picasa and the Google Toolbar some time ago for him) so he wasn't able to search through his images like he was used to.

And when his internet was finally installed, his Google toolbar, which he'd come to rely on, was gone and he couldn't easily find it on the web.

He'd grown to rely so heavily on just those 2 applications that he didn't realize how much he needed them until they were gone.

And this is what Google is trying to do. By giving users the ability to install a full search suite (desktop search with Picasa) with a few easy clicks, they are trying to make us grow more reliant on them (and less reliant on the competition). All in an effort to maintain their market share.

If that isn't viral marketing I don't know what is.


Rob Sullivan
Head Organic Search Strategist
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing

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