Google is totally a no on this count. Their generally-available programs are all for people entering search terms into Google's own widgets and specifically exclude software sources. I asked around at I/O and the answer was basically a shrug and suggestion to "get big and call biz dev".
I fully understand why, of course — they have lots of tools and expertise for verifying the authenticity of web-based queries, but software has to monitored in a different and likely less scalable (maybe even human-driven?) way.
And Google hardly needs to pursue desktop apps' small (and, to be fair, traditionally risky) traffic source, so in turn they haven't developed the technology to make that scale better.
I still love Google search though, so I wish I could use them. Instead I have to choose between monetizing what is clearly very valuable search traffic and giving users a search experience I think is outstanding. It's really frustrating.
If anyone has any ideas how I can cut this Gordian knot, feel free to get in touch via my profile info.
I fully understand why, of course — they have lots of tools and expertise for verifying the authenticity of web-based queries, but software has to monitored in a different and likely less scalable (maybe even human-driven?) way.
And Google hardly needs to pursue desktop apps' small (and, to be fair, traditionally risky) traffic source, so in turn they haven't developed the technology to make that scale better.
I still love Google search though, so I wish I could use them. Instead I have to choose between monetizing what is clearly very valuable search traffic and giving users a search experience I think is outstanding. It's really frustrating.
If anyone has any ideas how I can cut this Gordian knot, feel free to get in touch via my profile info.