Google launches Ad Planner beta

Google has announced a research and media planning tool to make buying online display ads less challenging for media buyers.

by Helen Leggatt

Last week Google announced changes to Google Trends, a website traffic reporting tool for all users.

This week they have launched Google Ad Planner, a tool specifically for ad buyers who need additional information to decide where to place their ads.

Google Ad Planner gives ad buyers access to website traffic information over above general traffic stats in that it also provides demographic information including household income, age, gender and education.

According to Google’s Inside AdWords blog:

"When using Google Ad Planner, simply enter demographics and sites associated with your target audience, and the tool will return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you've added to your media plan."

That seems pretty easy, although it should be noted that there are limitations including not being able to purchase ads via the tool or contact publishers direct.

Google Ad Planner is currently only available by invitation, interested parties should apply online.