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Nice try, I bet you drunk some GKoolAid. You +1 a company, say HP, because you bought Laptop XYZ. Now Google has been cutting unpaid traffic to everyone with t

Nice try, I bet you drunk some GKoolAid. You +1 a company, say HP, because you bought Laptop XYZ. Now Google has been cutting unpaid traffic to everyone with their gimmicks http://i.imgur.com/mhJhc5W.png http://i.imgur.com/mhJhc5W.png and Google's own spam so many more are forced to advertise. HP advertises on Google, Desktop ABC and since you +1-ed them, your friends will click on it, thinking you bought that desktop (about half are unlikely to know they clicked on an ad, they'll think it's an unbiased Google result). Now there's absolutely no reason to believe that Google or HP care if your friends got the best computer for their money, Google wants their ad money and HP is in the business of selling computers at margins as high as they can. In essence, you are helping Google scam your friends. Why isn't Google letting your friends see the websites you ranked but only ads? To make them more likely to click on ads. Almost always advertisers advertise the product they make the most on, and the cost of advertising is tacked on to the price.

krelian 13y ago
>Now there's absolutely no reason to believe that Google or HP care if your friends got the best computer for their money, Google wants their ad money and HP is in the business of selling computers at margins as high as they can. You seem to be convinced that all business is just one big scam. I wonder what you do for a living? >Why isn't Google letting your friends see the websites you ranked but only ads? To make them more likely to click on ads. Well I certainly think they wouldn't add this feature had they thought it will drive down the click rate but immediately approaching this as if it were a conspiracy to get some extra clicks while users figure it's a scam is just that, a conspiracy. In the long run it just doesn't make sense for google to display results that are not relevant to visitors and they know that.
- bsullivan01 13y ago
  Really? Have you seen Google's search results lately? You have to scroll quite a bit to see organic results, and they have done quite a bit so users mistake ads for content. That's one big scam and it coincided with (IMO) another scam, major penalties on websites to cut their unpaid traffic. I don't care for what Google says, I look at what it does. You should too: http://ho9od35yvs05ejqn.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Google-Adwords-HD-Monitor.jpg http://ho9od35yvs05ejqn.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/u... http://ppcblog.com/fbf0fa-now-you-see-it%E2%80%A6or-maybe-not/ http://ppcblog.com/fbf0fa-now-you-see-it%E2%80%A6or-maybe-no... http://moz.com/blog/mega-serp-a-visual-guide-to-google http://moz.com/blog/mega-serp-a-visual-guide-to-google Trying hard to drive clicks to the best sites, right ?
  - krelian 13y ago
    I've seen Google's search results and I think they are very relevant and are getting more relevant all the time. Frankly I think they do just enough to distinguish what are ads and what are search results. The reason most visitors can't tell the difference is because they don't care to learn the difference and they are accustomed to get what they want when they click on the first result. What do you reasonably expect them to do? Popup a message that says "this is an ad, are you sure you want to click on this link"? >major penalties on websites to cut their unpaid traffic. That is just a conspiracy theory on your part. Maybe you are butt-hurt that your site is not ranked how you would have liked. I worked in SEO for a few years and I've seen Google time and time again improve the results and weed out the scammy and "made for google" sites with real relevant content. How many sites are there that sell HD monitors? Thousands? Not all of them can be included in the top 10 results and I guarantee you that each one of them truly believes that their site deserves a spot on the top 10. Well guess what? Not all of them can be right.
    - filestar 13y ago
      They(and other search engines) got docked by the FTC recently for making ads look like search results. It's an interesting read. http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/06/130625searchenginegeneralletter.pdf http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/06/130625searchenginegenerallette... "Indeed, a recent online survey by a search strategies company found that nearly half of searchers did not recognize top ads as distinct from natural search results and said the background shading used to distinguish the ads was white." > Frankly I think they do just enough to distinguish what are ads and what are search results. The reason most visitors can't tell the difference is because they don't care to learn the difference and they are accustomed to get what they want when they click on the first result. The contrast can vary depending on the monitor, lighting and age of the monitor and user. http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/31/is-google-intentionally-trying-to-minimize-the-fact-that-these-are-ads http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/31/is-google-intentional... "Study:Contrast sensitivity gradually decreases with age" http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=818&strict=0&morphologic=0 http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=818&strict=0&morphol... >What do you reasonably expect them to do? Popup a message that says "this is an ad, are you sure you want to click on this link"? They could add a border around the ad section and/or restore the colors they used a few years back. But that would cut into ad revenue and the new colors must have been carefully A/B tested to provide the most ad clicks. This in turn forces sites among the top organic results to advertize, since competitors who advertize get more clicks because of the confusing layout of the ads. > Maybe you are butt-hurt that your site is not ranked how you would have liked. Please try to keep these kinds of personal attacks off HN(this goes to the other commenter bsullivan in this thread too).
agravier 13y ago
> Nice try, I bet you drunk some GKoolAid. I find it funny that you undermine the credibility of your whole carefully constructed argumentation with a nasty little ad hominem at the beginning.

krelian 13y ago

>Now there's absolutely no reason to believe that Google or HP care if your friends got the best computer for their money, Google wants their ad money and HP is in the business of selling computers at margins as high as they can. You seem to be convinced that all business is just one big scam. I wonder what you do for a living? >Why isn't Google letting your friends see the websites you ranked but only ads? To make them more likely to click on ads. Well I certainly think they wouldn't add this feature had they thought it will drive down the click rate but immediately approaching this as if it were a conspiracy to get some extra clicks while users figure it's a scam is just that, a conspiracy. In the long run it just doesn't make sense for google to display results that are not relevant to visitors and they know that.

bsullivan01 13y ago
Really? Have you seen Google's search results lately? You have to scroll quite a bit to see organic results, and they have done quite a bit so users mistake ads for content. That's one big scam and it coincided with (IMO) another scam, major penalties on websites to cut their unpaid traffic. I don't care for what Google says, I look at what it does. You should too: http://ho9od35yvs05ejqn.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Google-Adwords-HD-Monitor.jpg http://ho9od35yvs05ejqn.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/u... http://ppcblog.com/fbf0fa-now-you-see-it%E2%80%A6or-maybe-not/ http://ppcblog.com/fbf0fa-now-you-see-it%E2%80%A6or-maybe-no... http://moz.com/blog/mega-serp-a-visual-guide-to-google http://moz.com/blog/mega-serp-a-visual-guide-to-google Trying hard to drive clicks to the best sites, right ?
- krelian 13y ago
  I've seen Google's search results and I think they are very relevant and are getting more relevant all the time. Frankly I think they do just enough to distinguish what are ads and what are search results. The reason most visitors can't tell the difference is because they don't care to learn the difference and they are accustomed to get what they want when they click on the first result. What do you reasonably expect them to do? Popup a message that says "this is an ad, are you sure you want to click on this link"? >major penalties on websites to cut their unpaid traffic. That is just a conspiracy theory on your part. Maybe you are butt-hurt that your site is not ranked how you would have liked. I worked in SEO for a few years and I've seen Google time and time again improve the results and weed out the scammy and "made for google" sites with real relevant content. How many sites are there that sell HD monitors? Thousands? Not all of them can be included in the top 10 results and I guarantee you that each one of them truly believes that their site deserves a spot on the top 10. Well guess what? Not all of them can be right.
  - filestar 13y ago
    They(and other search engines) got docked by the FTC recently for making ads look like search results. It's an interesting read. http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/06/130625searchenginegeneralletter.pdf http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/06/130625searchenginegenerallette... "Indeed, a recent online survey by a search strategies company found that nearly half of searchers did not recognize top ads as distinct from natural search results and said the background shading used to distinguish the ads was white." > Frankly I think they do just enough to distinguish what are ads and what are search results. The reason most visitors can't tell the difference is because they don't care to learn the difference and they are accustomed to get what they want when they click on the first result. The contrast can vary depending on the monitor, lighting and age of the monitor and user. http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/31/is-google-intentionally-trying-to-minimize-the-fact-that-these-are-ads http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/31/is-google-intentional... "Study:Contrast sensitivity gradually decreases with age" http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=818&strict=0&morphologic=0 http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=818&strict=0&morphol... >What do you reasonably expect them to do? Popup a message that says "this is an ad, are you sure you want to click on this link"? They could add a border around the ad section and/or restore the colors they used a few years back. But that would cut into ad revenue and the new colors must have been carefully A/B tested to provide the most ad clicks. This in turn forces sites among the top organic results to advertize, since competitors who advertize get more clicks because of the confusing layout of the ads. > Maybe you are butt-hurt that your site is not ranked how you would have liked. Please try to keep these kinds of personal attacks off HN(this goes to the other commenter bsullivan in this thread too).

agravier 13y ago

> Nice try, I bet you drunk some GKoolAid. I find it funny that you undermine the credibility of your whole carefully constructed argumentation with a nasty little ad hominem at the beginning.