Google expands with acquisition of ad software firm

by Staff,, Brand Republic 24-Apr-03, 15:00

NEW YORK - Google has made its second acquisition this year with the purchase of online advertising software firm Applied Semantics.

Google is using the acquisition to expand its search-based advertising offering. The deal will also allow Google to establish a presence in southern California at the Santa Monica, Los Angeles, offices of Applied Semantics.

Applied Semantics produces software applications for the online advertising, domain name and enterprise information management markets.

The company's products are based on technology which organises and extracts knowledge from websites in a way that mimics human thought. One of its tools is called AdSense, a product enabling web publishers to understand the key themes of web pages to deliver relevant advertising.

Sergey Brin, co-founder and president of technology at Google, said: "Applied Semantics is a proven innovator in semantic text processing and online advertising. This acquisition will enable Google to create new technologies that make online advertising more useful to users, publishers and advertisers alike."

In February, Google bought Pyra Labs, the company behind Blogger.com, an online publishing site.

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