Directory company Brabys has been appointed as Google's first authorised Adwords reseller on the African continent, in a non-exclusive deal that adds legs to the local search engine Ananzi, owned by Brabys.
When news first broke two years ago that Google planned to establish a permanent South African presence, there was some concern the giant US-based Internet search company would overwhelm Ananzi, which is SA's oldest and continuously operating search engine.
Google estimates it has about 90% of the local search traffic and 98% of the pay-per-click advertising traffic.
However, Mark Buwalda, a director of Brabys Media Holdings, denies the reseller move was a survival strategy on behalf of Brabys to keep Ananzi going.
“Google would not have done the deal if they thought we were merely looking for a way to survive. Rather, we gave them a full briefing on the company after they came to us and they seemed to like what they saw,” Buwalda says.
The Authorised Google Adwords Reseller Programme allows Brabys to bundle its premium products, such as its search engine Ananzi, with Google Adwords.
Adwords are adverts that are displayed on a Google search results page that relate directly to the subject of the search.
The programme allows Brabys to leverage its knowledge of local merchants by selling the Adwords.
“The advantage is that small companies can - with a small budget and without any risk - see their products and services displayed on some of the best sites in the country, as well as on Google,” Buwalda says.
He says Brabys will provide a full service Adwords account management system on behalf of local SMEs, from account set up and activation, to ongoing campaign maintenance and making sure advertisers get optimum results from their spend.
Buwalda says the Brabys Adwords team that will place adverts on behalf of clients has received specialised training on all aspects of the programme.
He adds that the agreement between Brabys and Google is for an indefinite period.
“This alliance will expose many more businesses to the economic opportunities that the Internet offers,” says Google SA head Stafford Masie. “This is the first [alliance of this type] on the continent and we are very enthusiastic about what this means for small businesses.”
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