Google enhances their Content Network

A bit late on this one, but Google announced on Thursday (Aug 7th) that the content network has (finally) been upgraded to offer a better experience to users, and a better value for us publishers & advertisers.

In summary, Google's enhancements are as follows:

• Frequency Capping: Enables advertisers to control the number of times a user sees an ad. Users will have a better experience on Google content network sites because they will no longer see the same ad over and over again.
• Frequency Reporting: Provides insight into the number of people who have seen an ad campaign, and how many times, on average, people are seeing these ads.
• Improved Ads Quality: Brings performance improvements within the Google content network.
• View-Through Conversions: Enables advertisers to gain insights on how many users visited their sites after seeing an ad. This helps advertisers determine the best places to advertise so users will see more relevant ads.

Wait a sec... view-thru conversions? That sounds wonderful! According to the Google team, this was made possible through the DoubleClick acquisition and the ad-serving cookie they offer. Users can opt-out of both networks (DoubleClick and Google CN) with one click, but what it really means is that as an advertiser on the normally 'sketchy' GCN, it looks like money can and will be better spent with this enhanced tracking technology. Looks good, hooray for DoubleClick!