Would Google Unleash DoubleClick's Power?

Forget the Federal Trade Commission.

Investors should be more interested in Google'sGOOG own decision about its planned acquisition of DoubleClick.

On Wednesday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told a conference in South Korea that "we're quite convinced that the proposed merger meets all of the appropriate U.S. laws and is ultimately very good for consumers and for advertisers and publishers."

Most industry observers agree with Schmidt, even though Google's rivals have done their best to raise flags about the deal. Companies ranging from MicrosoftMSFT to AT&TT called the deal anticompetitive when it was announced. And just this week, an unnamed industry executive (perhaps someone at a Google rival?) fanned the flames again by telling The New York Times that the deal was being scrutinized by the FTC.

Despite those developments, Google shareholders, who have been victims of recent stagnancy, should be focused on how the company plans to use DoubleClick once it gets its hands on it.

More to the point, the search giant has thus far ducked questions about whether it will use search-query data to target the display advertising prowess it will now have because of the DoubleClick deal.

Linking search queries with display ad targeting would allow Google to offer advertisers a remarkably powerful combo. It would also let the company translate its strength in search into a new advertising market.