Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 by Jeremy Luebke

10

Google “Tip” at Top of Search Results

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?


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10 comments on “Google “Tip” at Top of Search Results”

  1. Scott Woodard Says:

    December 20th, 2006 at 12:58 pm

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

  2. Leon loves pictures Says:

    December 20th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

    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 !

  3. Jeremy Luebke Says:

    December 20th, 2006 at 2:05 pm

    Good catch.

  4. diddy1 Says:

    December 20th, 2006 at 2:32 pm

    Yeah I noted that too talk about blatant advertising.

  5. MarkZZ Says:

    December 21st, 2006 at 9:20 am

    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.

  6. matkowsky.com Says:

    December 21st, 2006 at 10:18 am

    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.

  7. pittfall Says:

    December 21st, 2006 at 11:23 am

    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.

  8. Google’s tip, blatantly deceptive. « “Stefano Sessa” Says:

    December 21st, 2006 at 4:46 pm

    [...] Link [...]

  9. » links for 2006-12-25 » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel Says:

    December 25th, 2006 at 4:37 am

    [...] Google “Tip” at Top of Search Results | Marketing Pilgrim Google’s been putting “tips” above search results that point to other Google services, like Blogger. Google used to “buy” ads in its own search engine, using internal ad budgets to “pay” itself, so at least it sorta competed with other companies, and the (tags: google advertising promotion search) [...]

  10. The Future Of Search Marketing Says:

    January 3rd, 2007 at 10:28 am

    [...] Clicking will take you to Google Base which will give you this specialised recipe search engine. It doesn’t end here either, other people have discovered other “trigger” searches as well. Where does this leave us then? With so many emerging technologies and constantly evolving behaviour patterns, how can you plot your course? The old adage “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” as survived the ages for a reason, things can change very quickly, especially on the web, so look at using all of these technologies to see what is working for you and most importantly, ask yourself if you are truly serving your customer. Websites that launch with the sole intention of profit rarely succeed when compared to websites that truly provide a truly good product, or a valuable service. Social Bookmarking:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]