5 ms·

To me the ads are the content as well. Often times the tip search result is the same as the top advertisement.

tyingq 10y ago
Google doesn't make that distinction for sites though. The ranking penalty applies even if the top heavy ads are highly related and complimentary to your content.
malchow 10y ago
My mother has exactly one way to get to the Nordstrom e-commerce site: search Google for Nordstrom, and then click on the first authoritative-looking Nordstrom search result, which is an AdWords ad, landing her at the home page. Seems expensive for Nordstrom.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  Would a browser extension that just moved AdWords to the bottom of the page be banned from the chrome web store? I'm sort of tempted to try this, but if so I guess I should start backing up my gmail account...
  - tyingq 10y ago
    Tried this on a few search result pages, seems reliable so far. document.getElementById('center_col').appendChild(document.getElementById('tvcap'));
  - memmcgee 10y ago
    Are adblockers blocked from the Chrome store?
    - tyingq 10y ago
      Desktop extensions aren't, but perhaps GP is remembering a similar situation with mobile ad blockers and the Play Store. https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decision-to-ban-ad-blocking-apps-from-the-google-play-store/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decisi...
    - Neliquat 10y ago
      Some are, usually youtube api abusers. They try to walk the line pretty well with their TOS.
- kristianc 10y ago
  It is - but if they don't Neiman Marcus will bid for that term instead and come up as the top result.
- 8ytecoder 10y ago
  1. Nordstrom would rather pay to keep the customer 2. Google charges a fraction for bidding on your own brand/website.
  - malchow 10y ago
    A woman in her sixties Googling for "nordstrom" is a Nordstrom customer.
    - jacquesm 10y ago
      Sooner or later the new middleman will always start to behave like the old middleman. Before it was the yellow pages, now it's google.
    - 8ytecoder 10y ago
      Of course. That's why I said "keep" and not acquire. What I meant is Nordstrom would rather pay Google to not lose the customer to some other site because of the placement of ads on Google.
kristianc 10y ago
This isn't by accident. Google has engineered it so that companies have to buy PPC ads for their own search results, to avoid 'competitive' PPC from rival brands.
- londons_explore 10y ago
  True, but it isn't to maximize profit. Ad bids are multiplied by a quality score which represents how useful the user will find the ad to be. An ad for the company searched for will be very useful to the user, therefore having a very high quality score, therefore the advertiser pays very little to have the top spot. A competitor on the other hand would get a low quality score, and have to bid a lot to get the top spot.
  - kristianc 10y ago
    It absolutely is to maximize profit - it's to extract surplus PPC budget out of businesses. Not a huge surplus no, but a surplus nonetheless. G knows the boardroom shitstorm that ensues when a CEO Google's the company name and sees a competitor outranking them (& that it looks like an organic result). There's therefore tremendous incentive for brands to park some 'defensive' PPC budget (and it's never clear precisely how much you need to be spending and of course your spend will be anchored by your spend on generics), and a lot of incentive for other brands to try to outbid (even if the net effect of those ads is as display ads snd they don't attract clicks). Consumers meanwhile, will just click the first 'paid' link, meaning that G is getting 30c for a link click the brand previously would have got for free.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]

Google doesn't make that distinction for sites though. The ranking penalty applies even if the top heavy ads are highly related and complimentary to your content.

malchow 10y ago

My mother has exactly one way to get to the Nordstrom e-commerce site: search Google for Nordstrom, and then click on the first authoritative-looking Nordstrom search result, which is an AdWords ad, landing her at the home page. Seems expensive for Nordstrom.

jessaustin 10y ago
Would a browser extension that just moved AdWords to the bottom of the page be banned from the chrome web store? I'm sort of tempted to try this, but if so I guess I should start backing up my gmail account...
- tyingq 10y ago
  Tried this on a few search result pages, seems reliable so far. document.getElementById('center_col').appendChild(document.getElementById('tvcap'));
- memmcgee 10y ago
  Are adblockers blocked from the Chrome store?
  - tyingq 10y ago
    Desktop extensions aren't, but perhaps GP is remembering a similar situation with mobile ad blockers and the Play Store. https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decision-to-ban-ad-blocking-apps-from-the-google-play-store/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decisi...
  - Neliquat 10y ago
    Some are, usually youtube api abusers. They try to walk the line pretty well with their TOS.
kristianc 10y ago
It is - but if they don't Neiman Marcus will bid for that term instead and come up as the top result.
8ytecoder 10y ago
1. Nordstrom would rather pay to keep the customer 2. Google charges a fraction for bidding on your own brand/website.
- malchow 10y ago
  A woman in her sixties Googling for "nordstrom" is a Nordstrom customer.
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    Sooner or later the new middleman will always start to behave like the old middleman. Before it was the yellow pages, now it's google.
  - 8ytecoder 10y ago
    Of course. That's why I said "keep" and not acquire. What I meant is Nordstrom would rather pay Google to not lose the customer to some other site because of the placement of ads on Google.

kristianc 10y ago

This isn't by accident. Google has engineered it so that companies have to buy PPC ads for their own search results, to avoid 'competitive' PPC from rival brands.

londons_explore 10y ago
True, but it isn't to maximize profit. Ad bids are multiplied by a quality score which represents how useful the user will find the ad to be. An ad for the company searched for will be very useful to the user, therefore having a very high quality score, therefore the advertiser pays very little to have the top spot. A competitor on the other hand would get a low quality score, and have to bid a lot to get the top spot.
- kristianc 10y ago
  It absolutely is to maximize profit - it's to extract surplus PPC budget out of businesses. Not a huge surplus no, but a surplus nonetheless. G knows the boardroom shitstorm that ensues when a CEO Google's the company name and sees a competitor outranking them (& that it looks like an organic result). There's therefore tremendous incentive for brands to park some 'defensive' PPC budget (and it's never clear precisely how much you need to be spending and of course your spend will be anchored by your spend on generics), and a lot of incentive for other brands to try to outbid (even if the net effect of those ads is as display ads snd they don't attract clicks). Consumers meanwhile, will just click the first 'paid' link, meaning that G is getting 30c for a link click the brand previously would have got for free.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]