jatiN mahindrA doT coM

Back in 2007, Google released a message center in Google Webmaster Tools. It was used for penalty notifications, hacks, exploits, bandwidth issues, and many other webmaster oriented technical issues.

Today, I log into my Google Webmaster Tools account to find, what appears to me, as Google Ad Planner advertisements. Now, I am a big fan of Ad Planner, it is a really neat, free tool. But it just didn’t seem incredibly webmaster related, on the technical side. I received about six of these “messages”, each for a different site.

Here is what they said:

Increase Your Website’s Visibility with AdvertisersJanuary 7, 2010

Dear Webmaster Tools User,

If your website accepts advertising, we invite you to increase your site’s visibility with advertisers in Google Ad Planner, a free media planning tool used by tens of thousands of media planners and buyers. This is done through the Google Ad Planner Publisher Center, a section within Ad Planner that lets you take charge of your site profile.

THREE STEPS TO VIEW YOUR SITE PROFILE

To see how your site profile looks in Google Ad Planner, follow these steps:
1. Visit www.google.com/adplanner
2. Type your site’s URL into the blue box that says “View a site listing”
3. Hit “enter” to get to your site’s profile
If your site profile is not complete, don’t worry, we have lots of ways for you to add information to the profile.

EIGHT WAYS TO UPDATE YOUR SITE PROFILE

Use the Google Ad Planner Publisher Center at www.google.com/adplanner/publisher to make your profile more complete. For example, you can claim your domains or subdomains, write a site description, provide a URL for advertising, and update your site’s content categories and ad specifications.

You can also opt-in your site’s Google Analytics data, invite additional users to edit and maintain your site, and promote your profile with a Google Ad Planner Site Badge.

GET STARTED

Sign in with your Google Account today at www.google.com/adplanner/publisher to get started.

– The Google Ad Planner Team

I have some pictures here and here.

Again, this is likely useful information, but just doesn’t seem all that technically relevant to the Google Webmaster Tools area.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Tools.

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3. How Does Google Get Their Data For Ad Planner?
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6. Google Release Site Performance Tools via Webmaster Tools
7. Google Ad Planner Gets Several New Enhancements
8. Google Webmaster Tools Showing Sub-Sitelinks
9. Google Removes PageRank Data From Webmaster Tools
10. Google Webmaster Tools API Bugs
11. Reminder: Reverify Google Webmaster Tools Site Owners
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