Mountain View, California-based Internet giant Google has opened the doors to its free hosted service for managing online advertisements, called Ad Manager, with a Tuesday public rollout that expanded on a test version that had operated since March. The newly public Google service is aimed at helping small and medium-size Web publishers serve and manage Web ads and competes with desktop based ad serving systems from rivals such as the United Kingdom-based open-source OpenX product.

After Nearly Six Months Testing Service Hits Public

During the nearly six months Ad Manager has spent undergoing tests from an invitation-only audience, Google received ample feedback and chose Tuesday's release to implement several new features to the service based on customer input, according to Google Ad Manager product manager Alex Vogenthaler, who announced the changes in a message posted on the company's AdSense blog.

Google Ad Manager, which has undergone testing by a group of companies including The Nation, Date.com and Robin Liss's Reviewed.com, allows online advertisers to sell, track and deliver ads using a Google hosted application the company touts as being quicker and more reliable than other similar services.

Ad Manager, which Google developed independently, handles a variety of ads types including text, video and graphical display ads, and included the following eight core features:

	Inventory management with ad slots, ad placement groups and ad bundling products
	Yield optimization with AdSense integration
	Ad targeting with customizable criteria such as geography, operating system, browser and bandwidth
	Trafficking, ad delivery, and order booking with frequency capping, CPM, CPC and CPD pricing models
	Creatives and rich media management with tags from various media providers and third-party tracking
	Reporting with interactive views and multiple detailed display options
	User interface with browser session support and AdSense channels integration
	Administration with contact organizer and team permission settings

Ad Manager Can Be Integrated With AdSense Accounts

Vogenthaler said Ad Manager had proven successful for "thousands of publishers in hundreds of countries" who had used the pilot program to "serve billions of impressions each day" with the service. "We are pleased to announce general availability of the product," Vogenthaler added in the Tuesday announcement.

While the service is now open to the public, users must first have an account with Google's free contextual advertising system, AdSense, in order to use Ad Manager. "A Google AdSense account is a technical requirement for creating an Ad Manager account," Vogenthaler said.

"Ad Manager can help you sell, schedule, deliver, and measure both directly-sold and network-based inventory," Google said of the newly-public service, which "can be optionally integrated with Google AdSense to offer you an automated way to maximize the revenue of your unsold and network-managed inventory."

New additions to Ad Manager implemented since March include the following features:

	Operation in 32 languages with international currency support
	Third-party advertising network management
	Automatic detection and insertion of macros from third-party vendors
	Live previewing of ads
	Day and time targeting

Combined with other Ad Manager features the service can now help "increase revenue, cut serving costs, and save time managing campaigns," according to Google.

Google Rolls Out Ad Manager Web Advertising Tool To Public

Google said that the Ad Manager system serves as "an effective complement" to services it offers through its DoubleClick property, which it purchased for $3.1 billion in March, by "providing new opportunities for publishers of all sizes."

Among the members of WebmasterWorld, one of the oldest and most popular Web sites serving mostly the technically-savvy people who manage Web sites and specialize in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), opening up Google Ad Manager to wider use brought both excitement and trepidation.

One WebmasterWorld member wondered if Google had expanded into too many areas. "Is Google the Death by Chocolate of the Internet -- not good for your overall fitness, but essentially irresistible?" asked a member using the handle "ronin".

Other members at the hip tech-hangout saw Ad Manager as a time saver. "I have the view that if it's one less script or database that I have to worry about then that's good," wrote a member using the handle "Swanny007". "I can concentrate more on running my site than about scripts, versions, security, upgrades, etc. I also like that I can easily use it to run my direct ad campaigns and it auto-fills the remaining inventory with AdSense ads," the member added.