Google is having trouble beating local search engine Yandex in Russia, so they’ve decided to splash out some cash and purchase contextual ad Begun for $140 million.

Begun is owned by U.K. based Rambler and distributes ads to about 143,000 sites in Russia, with 40,000 advertisers on the books. These sites will now have access to Google’s ad formats and targeting methods which should keep everybody happy about the deal.

Google will undoubtedly benefit from the relationships formed by Begun since it was founded in 2002. Going solo in an emerging market is can be difficult, and there’s no time to waste in Russia right now. The market is exploding and the time is now for Google to put their stamp on the country. With broadband access tripling in the next couple of years, Yandex looks primed to take advantage based on their regional superiority. Purchasing Begun gives Google a much needed foothold in search and a dominant slice of the contextual ad pie.

Rambler.ru, Russia’s 4th biggest portal, will now outsource its search to Google as well, knocking off another competitor for Google to take on Yandex. Could this be the hidden gem of this deal for Google?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pmand is filed under Search Engine Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.