Last Tuesday we checked out the exhibitors at SES (Search Engine Strategies) 2006 Toronto. We made the decision early on to skip the conference and just check out the ‘expo’. Next year, however, I think we will attend the whole thing.
SES pits itself as the ‘premier event for search engine marketing and optimization’ and while that might be true it still doesnt mean that they attract alot of exhibitors (around 20 by our count). The exhibitors included heavyweights Google and MSN and then an assortment of sem related companies (both local and international).
We spent about an hour and half there on Tuesday morning (arriving during a conference session - so very few people were at the expo). We spent most of our time chatting it up with the Google and MSN people who all seemed very interested in our experiences as sem professional using their products. Unfortunately, half the time they had no idea what we were talking about with regards to Google Adwords and MSN Adcenter. Case in point was the fact that none of the Adwords Googlers knew anything about Google’s recent announcement to charge for the Adwords API (I had to use their laptop to show them the Google PR).
Well at least I got a Google yo-yo!
btw MSN had the weirdest giveaway - MSN Adcenter Napkins (no the napkins aren’t branded - only the package that they came in is)
In a move that has angered many developers and search engine marketing firms, Google has announced that as of July 1st it will start charging for the use of its Adwords API. Pricing for the Adwords API will be based on a usage fee structure where $0.25 USD buys 1,000 units.
The Google Adwords API allows adwords users with a My Client Center to create their own programs to interface with the Adwords system. Using the Adwords API, developers and SEM Firms have created custom and commercial reporting, automation, bidding anc cross-PPC platform comparison tool that greatly improve efficiency and scalability of the Adwords platform.
From its initial launch, the Adwords API has been free to use and based on a quota system that was calculated for the most part based on the number of accounts one administered within their My Client Center
In addition to the new fee structure, Google is making some changes to their Adwords API terms of use. Rohit Dhawan, Google product manager explains that the new terms of use were needed to “to simplify developers’ abilities to commercialize their applications while at the same time ensuring that advertiser returns are maximized through the promotion of certain functional standards”. Google has made available a preview copy of the new terms of use. We will blog about the changes in the new tos once we have had a chance to thoroughly examine it.
