Google has announced a new ad program where advertisers can target ads to specific sites in Google's ad network and pay based on the number of times the ads are shown, as opposed to the number of clicks on a link. Dubbed "site targeting", the new move is Google's latest scheme to gain a greater share of advertising on the Internet.
The move marks a significant shift for Google, which along with Yahoo Inc. has helped to popularize the so-called pay-per-click advertising model online. In that model, advertisers bid in keywords that trigger sponsored links and pay when a consumer clicks on the links.
Google, instead, now will offer ads sold in the more traditional CPM model, where advertisers pay based on every thousand impressions of an online ad. But to keep the ads relevant, Google plans to make the CPM ads compete for placement on a site with its click-based ads.