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That's because Google's markedly better than Yahoo and other rivals at squeezing more revenue for itself from the advertising it serves up, eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman said during a Monday interview. Also, Google's reputation as the online ad leader makes it more of a first choice for businesses trying out online advertising for the first time.

"These growth numbers establish Google as the unrivaled king of online advertising universe, leaving Yahoo, with its greater advertising diversity and years of media experience, struggling in second place," Hallerman said.

The eMarketer report also shows what a difference a year can make. In 2005, Yahoo and Google had virtually the same amount of U.S. ad revenues. Yet by the end of 2006, Google is expected to pocket almost twice the amount of U.S. ad revenues as Yahoo, according to the new eMarketer report.

This year, according to eMarketer, Yahoo will garner about $2.86 billion in U.S. ad revenues, or an 18% share. It's not a bad year, Hallerman notes, yet Yahoo's share of the U.S. online ad pie will drop this year, albeit fractionally.

"The consistent growth in overall revenues shows marketers may be shifting more of their total advertising budgets to online," said David Silverman, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Paid search listings, which allow advertisers to pay to display ads next to relevant search terms, remain the bulk of online advertising at 40 percent, buoying results for Internet companies like Yahoo and Google .

Regular display ads, such as Web page banners, represent 20 percent of online advertising, classified ads grew slightly to 18 percent, while rich media comprises 8 percent.

"We were horrified," Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman Robin Keegan said. The company — maker of Dixie products, Brawny paper towels and Quilted Northern toilet tissue — pulled all of its Yahoo advertising and hasn't returned.

Internet advertising is surging to record highs as the percentage of homes with high-speed connections rises and growth at more traditional media atrophies. Online ad sales topped $2.8 billion in the first quarter, up 26% from 2004. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo posted 2004 revenue of $3.6 billion, most of it from advertising.

Some advertisers, however, are realizing just how little they know about what their money is getting them. Users contribute all or most of the content at many increasingly popular types of sites, including discussion boards, social-networking companies and blogs.

Most companies have little control over where their ads run because they buy online ad space in bulk through brokers who purchase spots on various websites. Individual ads often are placed by computer programs that match up keywords so that, at least theoretically, car ads pop up in discussions about cars.

Among the five major search sites -- Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., MSN, America Online Inc. and Ask Jeeves Inc. -- Yahoo and Ask Jeeves were cited for making their headings fainter and their disclosure statements harder to find.

"If you want to call attention to something on a page you put headline above it, [but] you don't make it smaller and more faint," said Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch.

Yahoo also received the most criticism about its paid inclusion program, since it is the only engine among the top five to still use the practice, and because one way it charges included sites is based on the number of clicks on their listings.

Time Warner (TWX ) has decided that it's go-for-broke time at AOL, as the beleaguered online division launches a last-ditch gamble for survival. To generate growth even as its Internet service loses subscribers, the online company is launching one of the most radical strategic shifts in years -- throwing open its content for free in a bid to cash in on a gusher of online-ad revenues.

The refurbished aol.com is taking a different approach than the other big portals, such as Yahoo! (YHOO ) and Microsoft's (MSFT ) MSN, which hit their stride before broadband usage took off. AOL's site, to launch in July, will put streaming video and audio content front and center -- including exclusive live concerts, celebrity interviews, and film shorts.

WebTrends said that the percentage of users saying no to third-party cookies has risen four-fold in the past 18 months, from 2.8 percent in January of 2004 to 12.4 percent in April of this year. However, the firm also said that growth seems to have peaked. Some industries are being hit harder than others, with a nearly 17 percent refusal rate in retail, more than 15 percent in telecommunications and 12 percent among media firms.

Entrepreneurs who enter the Think Big contest will have their business plan evaluated in a three-round process. The entries will be judged on the novelty of the business and its ability to attract a national audience; the design and navigability of the Web site, as well as its ability to generate and convert traffic into customers; and an essay that offers a compelling business plan that also demonstrates the entrepreneur's knowledge of business fundamentals.