Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
image source: FavBrowser.com
BY EVAN THOMAS ANCHOR NATHAN BYRNE
Is displaying paid search results evil, or just good business? Danny Sullivan at Marketing
Land says new sponsored results by Google could be a little of both.
Sullivan writes the change surfaced as Google rolled out a new comparison tool for some
of its hotel, flight and financial search services. There’s a disclosure along the
top of each comparison that says Google could be being paid for displaying these results.
Paid inclusion is distinct from paid placement in that it doesn’t guarantee high ranking,
but instead merely guarantees appearance in search results. Still, Sullivan argues, this
is a form of pay-to-play.
He asked Google Senior VP Amit Singhal about the change at a marketing conference. Singhal
said Google couldn’t provide some of the results it wanted to based only on its passive
data collection methods.
“We realized we will have to either license data or go out and establish relationships
with data providers…. In that relationship, sometimes, they may pay us, too.”
The Verge says It’s a departure from Google’s famous mantra, taken from the company’s
2004 IPO filing.
“…‘Don't be evil’ described the service's search results as ‘unbiased and objective’
explaining that ‘we do not accept payment for them or for inclusion or more frequent
updating.’ That no longer appears to be the case.”
Granted, paid inclusion only applies to hotels, flights and some financial search results,
but WebProNews wonders just how pervasive it is.
“I have to wonder how many of these paid deals Google has, how many include businesses
paying Google for listings, and how many include Google paying businesses for data access.”
But Gizmodo suggests this isn’t the betrayal of trust it’s made out to be. Paid inclusion
is just Google keeping up.
“All of Google's direct competitors—Facebook and Twitter especially—have full paid inclusion
that's at times far less transparent than Google's. It's just how business is done at
this point. Google changing its mind doesn't mean that it's a harbinger of destruction
on the world.”
Apart from Singhal’s comments, Google has yet to officially address paid inclusion in
its services.