Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continues to make billions in revenue each quarter on the back of its extensive text advertising network used on various Google properties as well as partner websites. The argument can still be made that the large majority of Google's income rests on the back of those simple ads which can be eerily relevant and lucrative for those who advertise on Google's network. One area, though, that has fallen by the wayside in recent years is the importance of Google ads in its Gmail email service.Although competitor Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) still has a larger customer base of email users, Google's Gmail product counts tens of millions of global, more affluent users. Although the company gives almost all its products away for free, you won't see advertising inside most of them.
Gmail is one product where you will see ads -- and to ensure more customers continue switching to Google's arguably-better approach to email, the world largest search engine company has deployed the DomainKeys email authentication service to make sure those fake (but real looking) email messages seemingly from eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and its payment subsidiary PayPal from luring unsuspecting customers to giving away their usernames and passwords. And, in effect, their entire identities in many cases.
This is significant for Google as the company tries to recruit more users for its Gmail product and make it one of the largest email products used worldwide. Google has tied in text ads into this product, which makes the effort to make it more secure incredibly important. As Google continues to subsidize all of its free products with services like search and email, making sure it steers customers away from online fraud will only need to get better to the point of being iron-clad. If Google's trust is betrayed by fraudulent emails and those customers don't return frequently (or at all) to a product where its ads are shown, then Google could have a large albeit hidden problem.
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