Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer has signed a contextual advertising deal with Google, saying the deal will be enable it to expand its networks so that users will see more meaningful ads.
In a statement announcing the deal Yahoo! said: "Say you've been shopping or boots. if you see an ad for boots, that's instantly going to pique your attention more than an ad for, say, a car battery. That's better for users."
Google ads will now appear on Yahoo! properties and co-branded sites using Google's AdSense for Content and AdMob services, and will receive a portion of the revenues generated from the ads displayed on its partner sites.
The deal announcement came as Microsoft relaunched its ‘Scroogled’ campaign to raiseconsumer awareness about the practices Google uses to make its contextual ads user-specific.
The campaign has focused on the way Google creates targeted ads in Gmail by scanning emails sent and received through Gmail accounts.
Microsoft’s campaign says: "Email between a husband and wife, or two best friends, should be personal. But Google crosses the line and goes through every single Gmail. ... And there's no way to opt out of this invasion of your privacy."