Google Friends Newsletter December

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Google Friends Newsletter - December 2003

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Dear Google Friends:

It's been two months since our last newsletter, and our days have been
filled with coding and conversations with customers. The
results are detailed below, along with tips on new ways to save
keystrokes when you're in a hurry to find the answers you need.
We hope you'll find this information useful and encourage you to
pass it on to those you know who would benefit from the gift of
time.

The Google Team

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WHEN TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE, GO GOOGLE
* The new Google Deskbar - search anytime
* Faster than flipping pages - Google redefines "dictionary"
* Jamming on deadline - Google coding contest results

BETTER SEARCH = BETTER INFORMATION = BETTER DECISIONS
* A better way to see what works best - Ad conversion tracking
* AOL A-OK with Google - A partnership renewed
* It's all about results - About.com selects Google AdSense
* Acquiring minds want to know - Google buys Sprinks

TELLING TALES OF GOOGLE
* AdWords' impact? Six times the business for one advertiser
* Google gives user a lift during NYC blackout
* Google on the move in Mountain View
* Vaya con Google en Madrid

SEARCH TIPS OF THE MONTH
* Froogle is a find for gift givers
* Autofill to save time stuffing stockings

SEARCHING FOR A GOOD TIME
* A holiday flash of brilliance - the Google blinky pin

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WHEN TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE, GO GOOGLE

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THE NEW GOOGLE DESKBAR - SEARCH ANYTIME
Hot on the heels of the recently released Google Toolbar 2.0, comes
the Google Deskbar (Beta version). While the Google Toolbar saves
time by putting a search box right in the browser, the Deskbar goes
even further, putting a search box right on your Windows desktop.

Downloading the free software gives you the ability to do a Google
search without leaving the application you're in or even lifting
your fingers from the keyboard - just hit Ctrl-Alt-G and the word
or phrase you've selected will be entered automatically as a search
term. The Google Deskbar has other time-saving features as well,
such as a mini-viewer that shows search results in a small screen
and built in searches for your favorite sites. Once you have it,
you'll wonder how you lived without it.

To download the Google Deskbar, visit:
http://toolbar.google.com/deskbar/index.html

To download the Google Toolbar 2.0, visit:
http://toolbar.google.com/

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FASTER THAN FLIPPING PAGES - GOOGLE REDEFINES DICTIONARY
Quick! What's the meaning of "serendipity"? With Google's new
Define: command, you can look up words online and find meanings
from many different sources across the Web. Because it's based on
billions of web pages and not a static dictionary, the Define:
command finds meanings for neologisms ("pop-up") and acronyms
("AFAIK"), as well as more established words.

To try this feature, enter "Define:" (without the quotation marks)
into the Google search box, then a space and the term you want
defined. For example, "Define: serendipity" for the answer to the
question asked above. This command saves even more time when
used with the Google Deskbar, as you can find meanings by
highlighting a word in any document, typing Ctrl-Alt-G to go the
search box, then typing Ctrl-D to search for its definition. Now,
aren't you glad you stumbled on this happy discovery?

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JAMMING ON DEADLINE - GOOGLE CODING CONTEST RESULTS
In September we announced the Google Code Jam, a programming
contest to identify the world's most gifted bit flickers. The
finals were held November 14th at the GooglePlex in Mountain View,
California, with 25 finalists competing against the clock and
each other for a $10,000 grand prize. And the winner is. Jimmy
Mardell of Stockholm, Sweden, with 2nd place honors to Christopher
Hendrie of Waterloo, ON, Canada and 3rd place to Eugene Vasilchenko
of North Potomac, MD.

The final round comprised three problems of increasing complexity,
with the last problem requiring contestants to determine the optimal
way to generate a certain number of keyboard characters using a set
number of keys. And just fyi, the winner of last year's Google
programming contest is now a software engineer for a leading search
engine company headquartered in Mountain View, California.

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BETTER SEARCH = BETTER INFORMATION = BETTER DECISIONS

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A BETTER WAY TO SEE WHAT WORKS BEST - AD CONVERSION TRACKING The holy
grail of marketing is a complete understanding of what part
of the marketing mix is most effective for converting shoppers into
buyers. Businesses large and small took a step closer to attaining
that goal recently when Google introduced a new conversion tracking
tool as part of the Google AdWords program. Advertisers can now
determine which keywords they've targeted with their ads are
leading to not only the most clicks, but the most actual sales.

To learn more about the Google conversion tracking tool, visit:
https://adwords.google.com/select/faq/conversions.html

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AOL A-OK WITH GOOGLE - A PARTNERSHIP RENEWED
AOL and Google are extending their partnership under a new multi- year
agreement that brings increased access to Google search results
and sponsored listings to AOL's tens of millions of users. According
to AOL, more than 75% of their members use AOL Search each month and
the response to Google's presence on their pages has been extremely
positive. The agreement also puts Google power behind the search
pages of AOL properties in the United Kingdom, France, Germany,
Japan and several other countries.

Details on the deal can be found in the press release posted at:
http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/aol_alliance.html

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IT'S ALL ABOUT RESULTS - ABOUT.COM SELECTS GOOGLE ADSENSE Google and
Primedia have agreed to a multi-year partnership that will
put Google's AdSense ads on pages across the About.com website and
on the websites of 127 specialty magazines published by Primedia,
including McCall's Quick Quilts and Civil War Times. That's a lot
of pages, considering About.com alone drew more than 25 million
visitors in August according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

To learn more about the AdSense program for site publishers, visit:
https://www.google.com/adsense/

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ACQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW - GOOGLE BUYS SPRINKS
While negotiating to provide ads on the pages of Primedia
properties, Google couldn't help but notice that Primedia's own
Sprinks ad network was a close fit with Google's AdSense service.
The result was an acquisition by Google of Sprinks, which currently
includes MSNBC, MarketWatch.com, and Forbes among its thousands of
distribution partners. Google has grown a fairly large network on
its own, with more than 150,000 advertisers running ads that
appear on thousands of sites across the Web

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TELLING TALES OF GOOGLE

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ADWORDS' IMPACT? SIX TIMES THE BUSINESS FOR ONE ADVERTISER.

Impact Engine, a San Diego-based creator of Flash-based online
presentations, is a longtime advertiser with Google AdWords and
has seen phenomenal growth as a result. Impact Engine relies on
online demos to sell its services and on Google AdWords to get
customers to those demos. CEO Neil Greer allocates eighty percent
of his online advertising budget to Google AdWords, which
generates 90 percent of the site's traffic. According to Greer,
"Our business is up 600 percent this year, and Google gets the
lion's share of credit for that."

Read more about Impact Engine's experience with AdWords at:
https://adwords.google.com/select/impactengine.html

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GOOGLE GIVES USER A LIFT DURING NYC BLACKOUT
According to Rick, a New York Google fan, Google saved the day
during the recent blackout when he found his car stranded on a
hydraulic lift at an outdoor garage. Without electricity, the
parking lot operator couldn't lower any of the lifts so cars
could be driven off for their owners. Thinking quickly, Rick
called his son in Dallas using a cell phone and had him search
for the lift manufacturer in California. The manufacturer was
able to walk him through the manual override and Rick's car
(and 20 others) were soon back on terra firma and headed home.

If you have a Google success story, please share it with us at:
http://www.google.com/contact/success.html

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GOOGLE ON THE MOVE IN MOUNTAIN VIEW
While the number googol is a constant (1 followed by 100 zeroes),
Google the search engine company is in constant motion. From its
earliest origins in a Stanford dorm room, to a garage workspace,
to an upstairs office in Palo Alto to its most recent sprawl of
buildings in Mountain View, California, the Googleplex headquarters
is more an idea than a specific place. That idea is taking a new
form as Google shifts its center two blocks south to a large office
campus formerly occupied by Silicon Graphics. The facility will
soon be swarming with Googlers on scooters zipping through cube
farms and bouncing on exercise balls while munching cereal and
gummi bears. If you do business with Google, please bear with us
as we make this move to what should be our home for many years
to come.

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VAYA CON GOOGLE EN MADRID
And speaking of moves, Google has opened a new office in Madrid
to better serve the legions of businesses in Spain seeking to
improve their results with online marketing. For those wary of
quixotic quests for effective Internet advertising, Google now
offers a solution with proven results, and local representatives
to explain exactly how it works.

For a complete list of Google offices, visit:
http://www.google.com/corporate/address.html

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SEARCH TIPS OF THE MONTH

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* FROOGLE IS A FIND FOR GIFT GIVERS
Intimidated by a long list of gifts to buy and not enough time to
circle the mall in search of parking? Try Froogle as your first
step to shopping online. Froogle product search is powered by
Google technology and provides one-click access to thousands of
stores online selling every imaginable product. Just enter what
you want to buy and Froogle will return links to websites that
sell it, along with images of the product and prices you can
compare. Your gift found with Froogle will likely be far better
received than anything you can purchase in a last-minute run to
the convenience store.

To try a Froogle product search, go to:
http://froogle.google.com

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* AUTOFILL TO SAVE TIME STUFFING STOCKINGS
So now you're shopping online, but your fingers are going numb from
typing and retyping your mailing address and credit card
information into online order forms. Try the autofiller function
in the Google Toolbar. Simply store your personal information
once and you can fill in forms with the click of a single button.
The information is stored on your own computer and can even be
password protected, so you know it's secure. Spare yourself
finger fatigue. You're going to need your strength to wrap
everything you're busy buying.

The autofiller is a feature of the Google Toolbar. Download it at:
http://toolbar.google.com

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FUN WITH GOOGLE

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A HOLIDAY FLASH OF BRILLIANCE - THE GOOGLE BLINKY PIN
What's colorful, festive and a testament to good taste? It's the
Google blinky pin, an intensely bright flashing Google logo pin
with a magnetic clip that works equally well on lapels and
earlobes. If you're searching for a way to increase holiday
spirit, this is it.

Find the Google blinky pin in the Google Store:
https://www.googlestore.com/cgi-bin...ore/GO0084.html

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We hope this edition of the Google Friends Newsletter finds you
in a festive frame of mind. From all of us at the Googleplex,
wherever that may be, best wishes for the season and a very happy
holidays to you.

The Google Team