Small businesses looking to improve their attempts at online marketing could benefit from a new partnership between Google and Salesforce.com.

Under the move, marketers will be able to make use of AdWords - the search engine's online advertising system - and monitor the success of their campaigns using Salesforce Group Edition.

Ovum analyst David Bradshaw claimed that the service could be particularly beneficial for small firms.

He told Computing: "To be able to track all the way through from the ads businesses place on Google to sales revenue is something the larger companies can do because they have in-house marketing and technical resources."

Mr Bradshaw added that the facility will also help smaller companies track the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Earlier this month, Google announced it has purchased online news feed distributor FeedBurner, in a move it claims will allow AdWords clients to achieve "broader distribution to an even wider audience of users".