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Google Related Links Launches For Publishers

Google Related Links Launches For Publishers

Google has a new publisher oriented offering in Google Related Links, which is a text box that can be added to your site and suggests similar searches & news to the content on your web page.

The Google Related Links tool (which does not appear to be in BETA) is now available via Google Labs to publishers who are interested in adding it to their site.

Publishers can customize the look, feel, and size of the Google Related Links boxes while also choosing which tabs are shown via the current choices of “search”, “news” and “web pages.”

Google explains the offering on the Google Related Links page:

Google Related Links use the power of Google to automatically bring fresh, dynamic and interesting content links to any website. Webmasters can place these units on their site to provide visitors with links to useful information related to the site’s content, including relevant news, searches, and pages.

Google Paying Publishers for Running Google Related Links?

Unlike Google AdSense contextual ads and search boxes, publishers are not currently paid for placing Google Related Links on their sites nor will publishers receive a percentage of the AdWords search revenue Google collects from the referred search traffic.

I could see this changing after a bit due to publisher demand. Especially if obvious Google money makers like Froogle Shopping, Google Base Real Estate and Google Finance channels are added to the Related Links box

On the FAQ page Google Related Links comments that publishers will not be paid “at this time” and that “We hope that with this product, you can make your site even more useful to your visitors by providing them with links to information they are interested in.”

Does Adding Google Related Links Help With The Indexing of a Site?

Expect the SEO rumor mills to be filled with suggestions that adding Google Related Links to a site helps with the indexing and ranking of that site on Google.

Some people in the SEO world believe that adding AdSense to a site helps in rankings and spidering, we’ll have updates of the forum and blog opinions on Google Related Links and if there is any effect on indexing and SEO.

Similarities to Yahoo Publisher Network

On Research Buzz Tara Calishain comments that at first glance Google Related Links reminded her of the more subdued Yahoo Publisher Network Y!Q product. Tara explains:

This offering reminds me of Yahoo’s Y!Q product, which also offers the ability to embed content in Web pages. The difference, as I remember, is that Yahoo required that a JavaScript snippet be put in the head of a Web page.

Yes, Google Related Links also reminds me of YPN at first glance, and also brings back memories of UCMore, a toolbar which was suggesting related sites and clusters of contextually matched news items back in 1999.

I believe that given the popularity of Google and Yahoo API’s for news, maps, local and search offerings, Google Related Links and YPN are just the beginning of publisher friendly content services from these companies.

If these companies have the desire of indexing and owning the world’s content, they will have to expand their means of sharing that content – and these publisher tools are a good beginning.

Expect the Y!Q and Google Related lines to offer blog search, bookmarks and citations and blog content related services along with mapping and easy to use hacks for automatically enriching sites with new, dynamic and personalized content – especially with more and more programming challenged publishers launching content rich sites daily.

Category SEO
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SEJ STAFF Loren Baker Founder at Foundation Digital

Loren Baker is the Founder of SEJ, an Advisor at Alpha Brand Media and runs Foundation Digital, a digital marketing ...

Google Related Links Launches For Publishers

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