Would Google Unleash DoubleClick's Power?

For example, Web surfers using the Google search engine to look for wristwatches would be shown rich display ads for the item when they read a news page that has ads served by DoubleClick. That scenario would be much more valuable to advertisers than having random ads displayed to random users.

Advertisers would, of course, be much better served by showing ads to users who are interested in particular items. These users would also be more likely to click on ads. Both aspects would help business at Google.

But Google has remained on the fence about such a plan. "Anything along those lines would have to -- anyway, I don't know. I think there are quite a few challenges with such a plan with respect to how we feel about privacy," Google co-founder and President of Technology Sergey Brin said during a conference call for investors following the acquisition in response to a question about such links.

Google's hesitation to link the two types of advertisements is striking. While the company reportedly paid a steep 20 times forward revenue for DoubleClick, the price tag could be justified if it were to reap the benefits of targeting display ads based on search queries, says Roy Shkedi, CEO of online ad consultancy AlmondNet.

While Google continues to build on its dominance in search, users spend only about 5% of their time browsing search results, Shkedi points out. Much of the rest is spent on Web pages with content, and being able to link the two "would be a gold mine," Shkedi says. "It would easily justify the price they paid for DoubleClick."