• by Shankar Gupta , September 14, 2006

Google and financial software publisher Intuit have entered into a deal that will allow small businesses to buy paid search ads directly from Intuit's QuickBooks accounting program.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company hoped to increase the number of small businesses using Google's advertising products, including paid search ads, by giving them easy access through Intuit. "We take this long tail business very, very seriously," he said in a telephone call with press and analysts. "We became convinced that there was a way to add a million or more advertisers to these networks, particularly the Google network, and to solve the problems that they've had taking their businesses online."

QuickBooks 2007, which Intuit will release this fall, will incorporate four Google properties--Google AdWords, Google Maps, Google Base, and Google Desktop. Google will provide access through the QuickBooks interface to both paid keyword campaigns and Google Maps business listings, as well as the printable coupon service launched in August. Users who create AdWords accounts through QuickBooks will be charged a $5 activation fee, but will receive a $50 credit for AdWords ads.

Google Base will integrate with a new feature in QuickBooks 2007, dubbed QuickBooks Product Listing, which will allow merchants to upload their product inventories into Google Base, making them searchable. Google Desktop will be incorporated into the QuickBooks interface.

Kelsey Group analyst Matt Booth said that the deal was a good distribution play for Google, giving them access to Intuit's large customer base--an estimated 3.7 million small and medium-sized businesses. "You can assume that it'll have pretty decent uptake," Booth said, adding that businesses that used Intuit already trusted the company would correctly handle tax and business information.

Intuit also currently has a deal with Google competitor Yahoo, to provide online mortgage information for the portal's real estate vertical.