weeks - 7:06 pm on Jun 20, 2009 (gmt 0)

Hmmm. What is not said in the announcement is why. Why is Google doing this?

I don't know, but as a former print publisher, I can tell you we looked at these kinds of deals when we were not selling ads otherwise. Is this a sign of a really,really weak ad market? Hmmm.

Publishers hate pay per inquiry (or, if you insist, pay per click) ads and when Google started with these kinds of ads it made them look, in the eyes of many traditional publishers, as second-tier publishers not to be taken seriously.

Indeed, at the time Yahoo sold ads on pay per impression AND they made you beg. Ha. Woo. The New York Times paid Yahoo millions to have them run their news articles. Really! [Tip: When talking with NYT executives, don't bring that up.] Ah, those were the days..when someone paid you to run an ad, no matter how it performed for them. The memories...!

Where was I? Oh...

So, now, we have this. This is a BIG step away from pay per click. Honestly, it's not April 1 is it? If this takes hold, it will stink big time for webmasters. This is Google lining up more with the advertisers and less with the publishers. Which, since Google is more or less a publisher, doesn't strike me as such a good idea for Google, not to mention their "partners."