Coming soon to a newspaper near you: print ads from the “do no evil” folks.

Google, whose “do no evil” motto is a linchpin of its corporate philosophy, last month began a three-month test between 100 of its current advertisers and more than 50 daily newspapers to allow businesses to buy ads in newspapers including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and the Boston Globe.

During the test period, advertisers will be able to bid on available newspaper space through the Google service, dubbed PrintAds. The goal: to help newspapers sell space to advertisers that otherwise might be filled with house ads or other non-revenue generating material.

This may be a twist for newspapers - which have long been hearing that Google would be their demise - since the program stands to drive revenue to newspapers by bringing new advertisers to print.

“Newspapers are seeing this as an extension to reach new users,” said Smita Hashim, Google’s senior product manager for print ads.

The product, made available through Google’s AdWords interface, allows publishers to submit their specs and describe to advertisers what space is available in their newspaper.

“Our (test) advertisers are able to go in and actually see PrintAds, and when they click on that they can find these newspapers,” Hashim explained. “They can find the newspapers and target them by section for instance, and they will be able to select ad sizes and make offers for the parameters they have selected.”

Publishers supply their list-advertising price, but it is up to advertisers how much they offer. Publishers then view the advertiser’s name and bid, and decide whether to accept or reject the offer.

The Google app automates the process of sending ads and Google must approve ads before they are sent to the publisher to ensure that quality ads are getting into the newspaper, Hashim said. Newspapers also get a chance to view and approve the ad.

“A lot of our advertisers are used to operating on the Web and they are pretty good about creating ads as well,” Hashim said.

Opportunities

Hashim said Google has a couple of goals for the project, the first of which is bringing advertisers a new, highly valued medium.

“At the local level especially, advertisers love newspapers,” she said. “This helps them reach a different kind of reader - readers who have different demographics and characteristics.”

Secondly, Hashim said she’s eager to bring new advertisers to Google’s publishing partners.

“We do have a large base of advertisers in the Google system that are used to operating on the Web and we’re hoping that these advertisers will actually represent significant new revenue for our publishing partners,” she said.

Mike Lemke, senior vice president of sales and marketing at The Seattle Times, which is testing PrintAds, said he’s excited about the potential to target new advertisers.

“This will benefit advertisers of all sizes but the group we’re interested in is the advertiser that hasn’t used newspapers recently but could find some benefit there.”

Something to prove

Lemke said newspapers will have something to prove to advertisers who do not usually buy in print.

“We have to show them the benefit of using this as part of their mix,” he said.

Conversely, The Times - like most dailies - is moving beyond print to sell ads for its Web sites, which encompass the Times and JOA partner Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“Newspapers have and will continue to develop product portfolios that go beyond the traditional print newspaper,” he said. “But we sell direct-marketing solutions, direct-mail solutions and we also sell online solutions, so we’re hitting a lot of different businesses for the future.”

Google tried a similar experiment last year with magazines, generating mixed results, but Hashim said there are a couple of key differences this time around.

“First, we are starting with newspapers, which are a much higher-frequency medium, giving the interactions and timeliness that is so important in developing a product,” Hashim said. “Secondly, this represents a real code and a real product É for publishers to hear the offers and accept them and for advertisers to actually create the campaigns and change them - it’s a much deeper relationship with the publishers.”

Test group large and small

The test group of advertisers comprises small and large companies and many advertisers that are Internet-commerce based, such as eHarmony.com, Hashim said.

“That’s exciting,” she said. “As an avid newspaper reader, I am excited about bringing these types of advertisers to print media.”

The response from advertisers has been positive, according to Google’s director of print ads Tom Phillips.

“Print buying can be an arduous, complex process in many cases and one thing that we’ve seen already is that our advertisers are enjoying buying ads this way,” he said.

Additional newspapers currently involved in the test include the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune and dailies owned by Gannett Co. Inc. and McClatchy Co.