Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) is planning to introduce a new Internet audience measurement service, to compete with existing ratings provided by comScore and Nielsen, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. While those companies track which websites users visit by conducting surveys or using tracking software on select user groups -- and charge for their services -- Google's service will be free, and based mainly on data from Web servers, potentially providing broader results.

Ad executives polled by The Journal were somewhat leery of seeing Google wield even more influence over the online advertising market.

"For an advertiser, the last thing you want to do is to have your adviser be the same person you are spending your money with," Sarah Fay, CEO of media agency Aegis North America, told The Journal.

But ad executives said they also see the company's service as a potential game-changer that will likely improving the process of buying online ads.

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