Almost two years after acquiring DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in March 2008, Google today announced that the service, which has proved a valuable service for ad-serving, will be receiving a revamp chock full of updates that should help clients better serve ads across their Web properties.

Combining the DoubleClick DART for Publishers and Google Ad Manager products, DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) features a completely redesigned interface, more detailed reporting and forecasting data that help publishers sort out which ads are successful and which are not, and new algorithms that Google believes will improve ad performance and delivery. Further, DFP is launching with an open, public API so that developers can build directly on top of the platform, a process that will greatly empower publishers to serve their own particular needs.

Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management at Google, explains the thought process that went into the new changes:

Major online publishers use ad serving technology to manage the complex process of how and when the ads they have sold appear on their websites. In recent years, we've invested significantly in our ad serving products — DoubleClick's DART for Publishers for large publishers and Google Ad Manager for growing publishers. Thousands of major online publishers use these products to serve billions of ad impressions every day.

But we see an opportunity to improve ad serving even further by combining Google's technology and infrastructure with DoubleClick's display advertising and ad serving experience. Since we acquired DoubleClick in March 2008, our engineering and product teams have been working with online publishers to tackle the obstacles that prevent them from maximizing revenues from their websites.

Today's news means nothing but more work and heavier toil for smaller players, like Rubicon Project, another company that provides ad optimization and selling solutions to publishers.

Google is always improving its ad delivery services. Last year, the company launched the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, which brought together ad sellers with extra inventory and ad buyers eager for a special deal.