It's not often that you hear about the little guy exerting influence over the dominant players in any industry.  And that's especially true with that industry is search advertising… and Google is the dominant player.  Google has a history of being the "exerter" while every other company in its wake is the "exertee".

But that's not the case this time.

The New York Times is running an article about search advertising "little guy" Quigo.  Founded in 2001 in Isreal, the now New York-based advertising service offers something that neither Google nor Yahoo has in their repertoire:  transparency.

Quigo's claim to fame has been it's ability to show advertisers more information and offer them more control than the big guys ever have.  Not only can advertisers see exactly where their ads are showing up, but they can also bid on keywords for specific sites (or specific pages within a site).  Quigo's technology also allows publishers to retain control of the relationship with their advertisers.  And for the willing, Quigo customers can even create their own branded advertising systems.

According to the New York Times,  ESPN.com, FoxNews.com, and Cox Newspapers have all joined the Quigo team after having jumped ship from either Google or Yahoo.  And even more big-name advertisers are currently testing the system against the established heavyweights.

So far, Google and Yahoo seem unscathed by Quigo:

But Google has at least been paying attention.  On the second page of the New York Times article, Malone said Google will begin showing advertisers lists of sites where their ads have shown up.  In addition, AdWords users will soon be able to big on keywords for specific sites within the Google network of AdSense sites.  But Malone also said Google isn't expecting much of a demand for the new service.

I think Google might be trying to play down the whole thing.  Quigo offers something that some of the bigger spenders in online advertising are looking for.  And as one source cited in the NYT article points out, the ability to retain a direct relationship with advertisers is critical for many online publishers.  Some of those publishers have been working with the same advertisers for longer than Google or Yahoo have existed.  The ability to keep that relationship open and healthy is more than a little influential for publishers.

If Google didn't think there was any value to Quigo's offering, would it really be investing the time and money into implementing Quigo-style features in it's AdWords system?  No.  Companies don't waste money… even companies with the resources Google commands.  The search giant recently started allowing advertisers to see the once-secret Quality Scores for their ads as well.  Transparency seems to be a growing trend behind the doors of Googleplex.

And Quigo could very well be more than a little responsible for that shift.