• ClickZ, Friday, December 23, 2005 10:15 AM

Search marketers, in particular, will feel the most immediate impact of the fortified alliance between Google, Inc. and America Online. The potential to add graphical ads to paid listings and to buy them directly from AOL adds a new dimension, which search marketers discuss with ClickZ. One executive says the expanded deal solidifies Google and Yahoo's ranking as the two dominant players in search, which he and others say is a shame because the market could have used more competition. It's also a big setback for Microsoft's ambition to become a major player in Internet advertising, especially as the company touts its new ad management program, adCenter. Another points out that the prospect of combining AOL's subscriber data with Google's search data is "going to be a huge run" on what MSN is hoping to achieve with the new integrated ad platform.

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