BP is sinking millions to save their floundering reputation. We’ve been bombarded by their new television ads and now they have attacked the internet as well. BP has spent a large undisclosed amount to buy up search terms from Google, Yahoo, Bing and more.
BP has purchased relevant search phrases such as ‘oil spill’, ‘oil disaster’ and environmental catastrophe.’
The move by BP is quite sinister and it will be difficult for users to differentiate between BP sponsored stories and genuine factual news stories.
None of the companies would comment on what the bottom line cost is, but Scott Slatin, who runs the New York-based search engine marketing company Rivington, told ABC he estimated it would be more than $10,000 a day to maintain the various search terms. Google sent me the following information about the purchases:
- Organic (the content on the left-hand side of the page, under the shaded box) search results are ordered via Google's search index. Advertiser participation in Google AdWords (related to the paid search ads you were referencing) does not impact the organic content.
- To provide a bit more detail, Google AdWords ads are displayed along with organic search results (which advertisers can't bid on -- advertiser participation in AdWords doesn't affect the ranking or inclusion of their site in the Google's search index) when someone searches Google using relevant keywords. Paid ads are clearly differentiated from organic search results. They appear under 'Sponsored links' in the right-hand side column of a search page, and may also appear in additional positions above the free search results, in a shaded box with a 'Sponsored link' indicator.
- AdWords pricing is determined by an auction-based system.
BP has decided that the money is worth the result of getting their positive message on the top of all major search engines.
Source http://www.abcnews.com
Comments
Google and the other sites should make this info available on the search page to be fair to readers
Why would American companies like google want to profit from money from BP? Seems unamerican to me.
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