eBay Shuts Window on Google Ads

Auction site drops search giant's marketing tools after weeklong spat
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2007 4:29 AM CDT
eBay Shuts Window on Google Ads
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, top left, and co-founders Larry Page, right, and Sergey Brin, front, are seen at company headquarters in this Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004 file photo, in Mountain View, Calif. The trio of billionaires who run Google Inc. collected less than $600,000 in combined compensation last...   (Associated Press)

Online auction powerhouse eBay broke a multi-million-dollar "keyword" advertising deal with Google, ostensibly after the search engine threw a party in Boston that crowded an eBay conference. But the boycott on search-driven spots also comes as Google's online payment feature Checkout elbows in on eBay-owned PayPal's territory.

Since pulling the keyword ads from Google, eBay traffic has dropped only slightly, prompting head auctioneer Meg Whitman to cement the ban even after Google execs Sergey Brin and Larry Page backed away slightly on Checkout. Now other top Internet companies are searching to find whether Google's pricey keywords are worth it. (More Google stories.)

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