Going once, going twice -- your ad in print!

Here at Google, we like to test things. Some of these tests eventually become full products or features -- in fact, we have a whole section of Google Labs dedicated to Labs graduates like Google Scholar and Personalized Search. On the AdWords front, features such as image ads and site targeting were once small scale experiments too.

Recently, we've been testing the placement of ads from our AdWords advertisers in select print publications. To help us figure out where and how we can best bring value to print advertising, we've experimented with text ads, templated ads, and full page display ads. And now, in the continued spirit of testing, we're auctioning ad space in well-known magazines. Why? Because we want to better understand our advertisers' interest in this ad space and see if this type of auction makes sense for print.

So if you've ever wanted to see your ads in print, check out http://www.google.com/printadsauction where you can view information about participating publications (including popular titles in the automotive, lifestyle, and technology verticals) and bid on full, ½, and ¼ page ad units. The deadline to submit a bid is February 20th, after which your bid will compete against other advertisers' bids to appear on the publication's page. Similar to the online AdWords auction, you'll never pay more than the maximum price you set, and you may end up paying even less. After the auction closes, we'll contact the winning bidders and work with them to deliver print-ready ads to the relevant publishers. For more information, be sure to check out our FAQ too.

Who knows, you just might see your ad in print at the price you set...happy bidding!

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew