Comments on: Google’s Organic Results and Ads Merge…Kind Of.

By: Monica - Current account

Monica - Current account — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:19:54 +0000

Is it fair if I call that a fluke?. Someone recently reported that the search snippet now displays a lot more text…But I’m yet to see any change at my end. But stumbled upon a post here http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/01/longer-google-snippets.html

By: Melvin

Melvin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:11:06 +0000

Maybe organic is still new around the world , less of advertiser bout organic. Melvin's last blog post..From Drab to Fabulous

By: Rebekah_King

Rebekah_King — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:46:36 +0000

I understand that in this case the ads match the results due to a browser bug, but I’ve seen this also when people loose touch with their organic/ppc campaigns. I’ve seen cases where folks use ppc on keywords they are showing up organically on top for, because they don’t really get the point of ppc. Also seen cases where the organic wasn’t on top initially, but the increase in quality of the website traffic/content/tags/backlinks has helped the organic listing to rise… and the client doesn’t notice that they are now paying for something they accomplish organically.

Again, I know it’s not the case here, I just think it’s worth saying everything isn’t always Google’s fault.

R
www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahking

Rebekah_King’s last blog post..Trade Shows: Working It On & Off the Show Floor

By: DF Marketing SEO

DF Marketing SEO — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:10:16 +0000

They have been making lots of changes – GO GOOGLE. Last thing I noticed on search results pages were the personalized up-down arrows to help you improve your own search results.

That’s what I love about Google, they are always trying new things and they are not afraid to do so. They aren’t so political

By: Utah SEO Pro

Utah SEO Pro — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:05:08 +0000

They’re hard to see because that’s a small screenshot!

Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..An Interview with Utah SEO Pro (Jordan Kasteler) by Martin Bowling

By: Nicole Price

Nicole Price — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:23:53 +0000

I get a different picture too! I am not very tech savvy but will wait for you to resolve this issue before I comment on the policy itself. Nicole Price's last blog post..Good Deals on Hair Products

By: Shirley

Shirley — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:43:14 +0000

Thanks for the update. That makes more sense. I doubt Google would allow people to buy their way to the top of search engine results pages. Shirley's last blog post..Firefox 2 on Mac: jQuery Anti-Aliasing/Opacity Bug

By: Monica - current accounts

Monica - current accounts — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:01:13 +0000

It doesn’t look the same on my screen. Check again. But if that’s the case, then they will be a conspiracy between PPC and SEO.

By: Quilmes Verano

Quilmes Verano — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:00:23 +0000

Hey, Joe. Don’t sweat it. It happens to the best of us.

By: Jacques Seoman

Jacques Seoman — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:43:13 +0000

I also run Adblock Plus, and have had the same experience. Thanks for pointing this out to us, Scott.

By: Wii

Wii — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:15:48 +0000

I haven’t tried PPC yet but it is definitely something that could be on the horizon as I attempt to steal a cut of the market.

Watch this space…

By: Google’s Organic Results and Ads Merge…Kind Of.

Google’s Organic Results and Ads Merge…Kind Of. — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:52:23 +0000

[...] Scott Edwards points out in the comments below that the phenomenon described below is the result of a bug in a plugin that I [...]

By: Kenney and Kim

Kenney and Kim — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:50:54 +0000

True. Google and Yahoo both do that for very competitive terms. I don’t see that as much non-competitive terms, but the ones that make them money, they do.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:27:51 +0000

I agree with you Joe. I have seen many sponsored search results that are nowhere near the top of the regular results returned, yet they are displayed at the top of the screen. This isn't really anything new, but it does disturb me that you can buy your way to the top of search results. Patrick's last blog post..Fresh Produce Hard to Find During Winter

By: Saad Kamal

Saad Kamal — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:07:38 +0000

This might be a fluke. Someone recently reported that the search snippet now displays a lot more text...But i'm yet to see any change at my end. Saad Kamal's last blog post..Protect Your Site from Spammers - Matt Cutts

By: Jerry

Jerry — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:06:40 +0000

Isn’t this what Baidu got in trouble for. Taking in money for top listings. We are pretty much paying to be ranked higher, when you cannot distinguish between advertising and organic search results.

It’s disappointing that Google would stoop to this.

By: Michael Murdock

Michael Murdock — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:57:16 +0000

Actually, I’ve never heard that PPC would not affect your SERPs, in fact the opposite since I began doing SEO long, long ago. The only thing is that a lot of clients don’t have the marketing budget to do PPC correctly as per Perry Marshall’s course so I quit doing those campaigns back in 2003 and concentrated on things that really matter as far as SEO goes.

One thing to know about Google is that due to their localization, when you type the exact search term into their page in Arizona as you do in California, you will NEVER see the same listings, so I go along with the BAD EXAMPLE remark. Your perception of this is good to note and we all should keep an eye out for it, but at the end of the day, how our client have their landing pages structured, their ads written, what they’re selling to and how much of that the market needs is all going to determine whether or not the ads work.

Also generally to get top 3 sponsored positions you had to have at least 30,000 visitors to a site per day to get into that slot and you could not pay for it. It was done purely on your ad popularity and number of clicks on your ad. Personally unless I was selling a product that was so hot that it was producing a 4:1 or better return, I’d not want to be in the top spot. The other reason is that in a survey that I did of more than 10,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area during 2003-2004, 8 out of 10 people ignored the Top yellow sponsored positions and went for the first 5 organic listings.

Target your marketplace, create a niche’ focused website/landing page, have a really cool product, create a really awesome price, write 2 press releases and 3 articles, 4 blog postings, and let the cash register begin to ring.

Have a great 2009.

Michael Murdock, CEO
DocMurdock.com
Sign up to ask and answer questions at [link removed]

By: Scott Edwards

Scott Edwards — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Not to my knowledge. I only recognized the issue because I have the same problem on my new setup ->Leopard>Latest Firefox>Latest ABP>Updating Ad Block Filters. When I downloaded everything fresh, thats when the lack of background issue started happening.

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:32:56 +0000

@Scott I am testing this now, is there any documentation about this bug?

By: Scott Edwards

Scott Edwards — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:24:01 +0000

The problem you are having is the result of a bug in Firefox with Ad Block Plus. In the latest update of that plugin it removes all sponsored listings from the major search engines. I see you have the green ABP symbol on your firefox, as do I on Google. This will allow the sponsored listings to show, however the yellow background is still blocked out. In this particular case you see the results this way as a result of the ABP plugin, not Google changing their sponsored link display format.