Google to sell ads for more than 225 papers

Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular search engine, will offer advertisers the chance to buy space in more than 225 newspapers.

They include the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and have combined circulation of almost 30 million, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said Wednesday. The company started the program in November with 50 newspapers.

Google takes bids online for advertising space in newspapers and relays the offers to publishers, who can accept or reject them. The program helps the publications attract spending from advertisers that typically buy space on the Internet, which has cut into their profits.

Google’s print offering is available to hundreds of thousands of U.S. customers that employ AdWords, the program advertisers use to buy space next to search results. Google posted a 75% increase in ad revenue in the first quarter.