Google launches ads into news queries searches....

(image found on cnet)
Don't be suprised when the next time you do a Google search for new content you might find a new addition to the mix. With times being hard for all Google is looking at new areas of generating income. So now, Google will be introduced ads now when someone does a search query for Google News. This new venture is a bit risky because of the legalities it might bring up from assorted media outlets and newspapers from around the world wanting a taste of the new income that is greatly appreciated by anyone in these economic hard times.

Josh Cohen, a business project manager at Google, announced the change in a post on the official Google News blog on Wednesday.

"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 -- similar to what you see on regular Google searches," Cohen wrote.

A search for Kindle, Amazon's electronic book reader, for example, returns links to news articles and a list of "sponsored links" such as Amazon's Kindle page and ads for other readers such as Sony's eBook device.

"In recent months we've been experimenting with a variety of different formats," Cohen said. "We've always said that we'd unveil these changes when we could offer a good experience for our users, publishers and advertisers alike."

"We'll continue to look at ways to deliver ads that are relevant for users and good for publishers, too," Cohen said, adding that the ads would only appear on Google News search-results pages in the United States.

Google News aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources around the world and provides links to articles on their websites.

The articles are selected, according to Google, "by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online."

The introduction of ads to Google News search is the latest attempt by the Mountain View, California-based company to monetize its various Web ventures.

With recent ad content additions to Google Finance & Google Earth something like this was bound to happen. But, this could be an interesting new way of generating possible income, i guess time will tell how litigious this idea might get. Someone is bound to get their feathers ruffled and make a law suit against the Search Engine giant in trying to get big piece of the pie too.

Personally, I think Google does a fantastic job of putting together the news in a great concise package for all to see when they want for free. I wish them luck in this new revenue venture.

something extra i found:

Google did not immediately respond to questions on the possible legal ramifications of its News search ads. Sandra Baron, executive director at the Media Law Resource Center, suggested an "economic tension" exists between publishers and Google that could bubble up into legal action.

"A significant issue for content providers is whether or not what Google provides becomes a substitute for going to the actual content providers site," she said. "When that tension becomes too great, people seek legal solutions to it."

That said, she said U.S. legal precedent appeared to offer no obstruction to content aggregators and search providers compiling headlines or short summaries along with links, regardless of whether those pages contain ads.

It's a different story beyond our borders, where Google News has faced some challenges. In one high profile court case in Belgium, a group of content owners succeeded in forcing Google to remove their content from both Google.be and Google News.

Legal issues aside, Google may face a big hurdle in achieving ad relevance in Google News search, where user intent can be very different from general search. In several tests of the new ad experience, Google's paid results seem a poor match for the apparent intent of a news query. For instance, a search for "Polo" turns up pages of news stories on the water sport, whereas the sponsored links are exclusively geared toward men's clothing.

Google introduces ads to Google News (AFP)
Google shakes AdWords snowglobe again (the Register)
Google adds ads to Google News searches (cnet)
Ads in Google News Search May Tempt Media Lawsuits (clickz)