http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5208492.html Google preps new tool to juice revenue Search engine leader Google is close to releasing new tools that could expand its profitable keyword-advertising business and fuel growth as it prepares for a highly anticipated initial public offering, according to sources familiar with the plan. The technology aims to enable Google to examine the Web sites of large advertisers and to develop automated lists of keyword combinations that are likely to turn up in search queries, the sources said. If successful, the system will match more searches to advertisements, and thus boost revenue. An analysis of search-engine advertising suggests there is significant room for growth in this area. Only 40 percent to 45 percent of the 120 million Internet searches a day in the United States are currently linked to an ad, according to research firm ComScore Networks. But such a service could also create new risks for Google, which has stumbled in the past with automated advertising efforts. Google, which is preparing for a $2.7 billion initial public offering later this year, would not comment on the project. But executives at companies working with Google said such a service is in the works. "There is something like that on the horizon," said Kevin Lee, chief executive of Did-It.com, a prominent search-engine marketing company that works with advertisers to test Google products before they are released. "All the search engines are experimenting with what is the best way to allow large advertisers to get the right number of listings into their engines." Over just a few years, search engines have seen enormous success selling keywords, giving the highest bidder for a queried word the right to display ads above and to the side of query results. As much as 95 percent of Google's $991 million in revenue last year came from the sponsored listings that appear on its Web site and on those of its partners. Meanwhile, sales from U.S. search-engine marketing will reach a total of $2.1 billion in 2004, up from $1.6 billion last year, according to Jupiter Research. By 2008, sales are expected to hit $4.3 billion.