In the last year or so, Google has been pressured for more transparency. Now, it is offering just a bit more.

Google plans to roll out a new version of its popular AdSense program in the second quarter of this year that will tell advertisers where their ads are being displayed. Currently, advertisers pay to place ads across a network and then pay for clicks. This lack of transparency has some worried that their ads might appear next to questionable content
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"Transparency is a problem for anyone who does business with Google on any level -- whether you're an advertiser, a publisher, a member of the press or a member of the financial community," said Josh Stylman, a managing partner with search engine marketing firm Reprise Media.

Prior to Google's rollout, advertisers only knew how many clicks the ad received and were then billed accordingly. Now a list of sites where the ad content appeared will accompany that report.

Some have suggested that the growing market share of competitor Quigo, which uses a contextual based system, catalyzed the move. Google has denied that claim on basis that it would not change its entire system based on relatively small competition.

Last week Quigo announced a multi-year partnership with Forbes to serve contextually targeted ads on its many internet properties as part of an increase in its growing market share.