Google just made two major announcements. Long-term, these could change the face of online marketing and advertising for almost every company. But before we look at how they are related, two background points are key.

1. When it comes to online advertising revenue, no one is bigger than Google. Not even Facebook comes close.

2. Online advertising companies that use big data in advertising are today’s market darlings. RocketFuel’s successful IPO last week underlines the value the market is putting on these companies.

Google wants to be both. [Read more…]