October 11, 2011

Google Introduces Circles

October 11, 2011

Google Introduces Circles

Google Introduces Circles

Google is testing a new kind of advertising option called Circulars that is designed to imitate the look of full-page newspaper ads complete with large images and text.These ads will act like destination sites where users can look through specials at nearby retailers when searching a store. The ads will work as a new

form of advertising for offline retailers and aims to drive more traffic to the physical store rather than encouraging online shopping.The ads will be personalised depending on the location and query and will pop up when the user clicks on search or display ads.Vice President of product management at Google Nick Fox said Circulars were designed as a response to offline retailers wanting online advertising to drive more customers to their physical stores.“[Retailer are] trying to get their online visitors into their stores,” he said.“And this is our answer to that.”Google estimates the click through rates will increase from 15 per cent to more than 50 per cent for some of the ads. This is a significant increase in traffic but the results are yet to be seen.While the new Google Circulars ad format won’t substitute normal newspapers or glossy magazines, some physical newspapers have had a decline in financial growth over the past year, with some stocks dropping over two per cent.The ad format is scheduled to be released later this month in America and, depending on the success, will be rolled out to Australia at a later date.