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> There are many things they've done that are pretty subtle as well. > The wikipedia information in the sidebar when you do informational searches used to have

> There are many things they've done that are pretty subtle as well. > The wikipedia information in the sidebar when you do informational searches used to have links to wikipedia...leading you away from google. They now keep you within Google, and include links to ads http://i.imgur.com/j3w9LbP.png http://i.imgur.com/j3w9LbP.png That still has a link to wikipedia > Various widgets push organics down pretty far: http://i.imgur.com/VwYH7mY.png http://i.imgur.com/VwYH7mY.png That second box isn't an ad, it's just a called out search result. > There are queries that became 100% above the folds ads within the last 1 or 2 years. Travel is especially aggressive: http://i.imgur.com/89iYCmc.png http://i.imgur.com/89iYCmc.png As I said, this has been a thing for more than 5 or 6 years: http://www.seobook.com/excuse-me-where-did-googles-organic-search-results-go http://www.seobook.com/excuse-me-where-did-googles-organic-s... (from 2009) > Other widgets that aren't ads per se, but serve to keep you on Google's site as you drill down to pages that will have ads: http://i.imgur.com/v1urMBm.png http://i.imgur.com/v1urMBm.png They aren't ads per se...so would have at most a secondary effect on ad click through rates. It's also hard to argue that this (and the other) examples would be the cause of user harm as you argued above. > YoY click growth percentage has been higher than traffic growth for years and years for Google. You're missing my point because that's exactly it. Unless things have changed substantially in the last year, and every year before that, these things wouldn't explain the growth in click rates.

tyingq 11y ago
>>That still has a link to wikipedia The sidebar wikipedia info used to have all links that went to wikipedia. The one I posted isn't the best example for hat, but it is the best example of one with a directly monetized link. >>That second box isn't an ad, it's just a called out search result. It also consumes vertical space, pushing the organics down. The relevance is also quite low, being a link to a discontinued product. >>You're missing my point because that's exactly it. Not missing your point. I'm not saying the few examples I gave are everything they've done. I think they've been doing things like, for several years, this to sustain the expected growth. Lacking a dividend, the pressure to sustain growth rates is pretty high. Edit: It's also likely that for other purposes (testing/deployment/whatever), these things (and similar ones I haven't noticed) have dials for where/when/how often they are exposed, either by geography, search terms, demographic, or some other criteria. A bunch of dials would also allow you to smooth growth if you wanted.

tyingq 11y ago

>>That still has a link to wikipedia The sidebar wikipedia info used to have all links that went to wikipedia. The one I posted isn't the best example for hat, but it is the best example of one with a directly monetized link. >>That second box isn't an ad, it's just a called out search result. It also consumes vertical space, pushing the organics down. The relevance is also quite low, being a link to a discontinued product. >>You're missing my point because that's exactly it. Not missing your point. I'm not saying the few examples I gave are everything they've done. I think they've been doing things like, for several years, this to sustain the expected growth. Lacking a dividend, the pressure to sustain growth rates is pretty high. Edit: It's also likely that for other purposes (testing/deployment/whatever), these things (and similar ones I haven't noticed) have dials for where/when/how often they are exposed, either by geography, search terms, demographic, or some other criteria. A bunch of dials would also allow you to smooth growth if you wanted.