|
The Irish site, which can be reached through or through a link on , offers English and Irish language interfaces and enables users to restrict their searches to pages from Ireland. Already Google in available in over 80 languages around the world on pages that offer similar country specific services.
This move to make Google more appealing to Irish users comes at a time when the business has been expanding its advertising sales efforts in several European markets and Japan. As part of this plan, the company has recently introduced its AdWords ad-buying program in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Japan.
This strategy is sure to pit Google against its old rival, Overture Services, as the two battle for control of the search engine industry in Europe, a market that Overture currently dominates. The turf that the two businesses are fighting for is the lucrative commercial search contracts with Web giants such as AOL, Yahoo, Earthlink and the many other ISPs and Web sites that require search engines.
Already, there is controversy between the two over Google's AdWords program, which lets advertisers pay for top ranking in search results on a separate part of the page with Google receiving payment each time it is clicked. Overture claims this strategy infringes on one of its patents and has filed a lawsuit against Google.
But there are other reasons for Overture to be concerned. Since the start of 2002, the Google has been slowly stealing away high-profile former Overture customers such as AOL (US) and Earthlink. This is partly thanks to Google's well-known brand name and market presence. Overture does not host its own destination Web site and needs to find partners before it can venture into new markets.
For its part however, Overture remains the top paid search provider in America and it is a profitable company that, amazingly, has managed to succeed despite the dot-bomb and the IT meltdown. And in Europe, Overture has a massive audience, including an 80 percent reach in the UK and 73 percent reach in Germany.
Since being created in 1998 by two Stanford University students, Google has swiftly grown to become one of the world's most used search engines. Google stands out because it is one of the few Internet companies that quickly became profitable. The business has not released its financial statements, but says it has earned a profit for six consecutive quarters.
Google became the fourth most popular Web destination among US Internet users in July 2002, ComScore Media Metrix reported last month, with an estimated 37.5 million visitors from home and work.
On Friday, Google filed a more than 3-year gap in its senior management team with the appointment of George Reyes, a former financial officer at Sun Microsystems, as its new Chief Financial Officer. This move is thought to be one of the final hurdles the company must clear before it begins proceeding with an expected IPO.
|
