Marketing Pilgrim's "Blogging" Channel

Sponsor Marketing Pilgrim's Blogging Channel today! Get in front of some of the most influential readers in the Internet and social media marketing industry. Contact us today!
by
10 Comments

Google “Tip” at Top of Search Results

posted on December 20, 2006


While doing a site search today that included the word “blog” in the domain I noticed something new. At the very top of the search results was an ad disguised as what Google called a “Tip.”

Blogger Ad

I tested additional keyword searches for which Google has related or competing services but they seem to be drinking their own koolaid and running Adword ads for their other branches. Blog searches seem to be the only results which contain this type of ad.

I find it deceptive on their part to call this a “Tip.” This is a blatant ad which I’m sure is getting some amazing CTR due to having the only other image on the page besides the logo.

Anyone else see this type of ad for any other Google service?


Related Posts

Zemanta
  • http://www.artisaninteractive.com Scott Woodard

    Queries for photo/picture based terms trigger a tip to try a Google image search, no image though.

  • http://gimps.de Leon loves pictures

    Yes I agree with you, google is placing this ads whenever you search for blog. I guess they are just trying to use as much power as they can to promote their blogger service.

    Thank you for sharing this story with me !

  • http://www.xuru.com Jeremy Luebke

    Good catch.

  • http://www.seonewsblog.com/ diddy1

    Yeah I noted that too talk about blatant advertising.

  • http://www.zzmarketing.co.uk MarkZZ

    I wouldn’t label this as bad advertising. Google offers a massive range of services, some of which are very good, however they are underused because people don’t know about them. Google Code Search, Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Video – all great services, but how many people actually explore past the search page? Not enough.

    I have found another search instance which triggers a launch to another Google Service. Try searching for “Turkey Recipes” or [insert here] + recipes and you will get a drop down asking for the main ingrediant of the recipe you are after and cuisine, with a search box. Hitting search takes you to Google Base service. Is this advertising Google Base, or is it Google’s way of enhancing its relevance? Personally, if the advert is directly related, I don’t mind.

  • http://www.matkowsky.com matkowsky.com

    i don’t think it’s deceptive because it’s clear that it is not part of the search results. It’s labeled a “tip,” which means its exactly that, a tip from Google. It may be a bias tip, but everybody knows the tip is from Google and they are free to take it or reject it. Just my 2 cents.

  • http://the-blog-life.blogspot.com pittfall

    Jeremy,

    I had not noticed this, but when attempting to do a backlink query for a blog: “link:http://www.domain.com” it also comes up with the blogger promo. I would think that they would want to promote their blog search instead of blogger. You are clearly looking for blog related content, so plug the new project not blogger.

  • Pingback: Google’s tip, blatantly deceptive. « “Stefano Sessa”

  • Pingback: » links for 2006-12-25 » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel

  • Pingback: The Future Of Search Marketing

Filed Under: Blogging