I assumed this was a step in conditioning users to search for the brand (and maybe click on the brand's ad, or a competitor's, instead of the organic listing ha

I assumed this was a step in conditioning users to search for the brand (and maybe click on the brand's ad, or a competitor's, instead of the organic listing halfway down the page) instead of navigating directly. They don't even have a chance to make anything when you type in a domain name directly. AOL keywords v2.0.