6 ms·

This isn't a banner ad. This is essentially a branded search. It's not like Google is targeting users with Flash-based crud here. To call it a banner ad is kind

This isn't a banner ad. This is essentially a branded search. It's not like Google is targeting users with Flash-based crud here. To call it a banner ad is kind of silly.

nodata 13y ago
Somebody works in marketing :)
- freehunter 13y ago
  I actually have to agree somewhat, though (and I don't work in marketing). If you search for Southwest Airlines, why should Southwest Airlines not be the top result? Google has been showing pictures and information about people, products, and companies for quite a while now (https://www.google.com/#q=paul+graham https://www.google.com/#q=paul+graham), and shows commonly visited links off the main page of a website (as shown in that search for Paul Graham, they sub-link to his essays and other commonly visited pages). It's very clear the intent of searching for Southwest Airlines; to get information about Southwest Airlines. The only difference between this result and any other result is that Southwest told Google what to put as their picture and sub-links, and Google made them pay for it. Searching for American Airlines shows almost exactly the same thing, except it's automatically populated by Google's engine, rather than being paid for.
  - milliams 13y ago
    it shows banner ads for companies including SouthWest Airlines on pages which include them in web search results. It's not just 'If you search for Southwest Airlines'. It's if in the list of results for the thing you searched for there's a Southwest Airlines page. It could be coincidental but suddenly you have a large advertisement at the top of your page. It wouldn't be outside the bounds of possibility for this to encourage Google to rank Southwest Airlines pages more highly so that they can show the banner, thereby generating more revenue.
    - freehunter 13y ago
      I only see the ad when I search directly for "Southwest Airlines". For example, search for "Southwest check in". Southwest Airlines is the number one result, but there's no ad on the page: https://www.google.com/#q=southwest+check+in https://www.google.com/#q=southwest+check+in
      - rafitorres 13y ago
        I see the ad if I search for just "southwest".
        freehunter 13y ago
        True.
    - psbp 13y ago
      I'm outraged that google could possibly murder puppies.
  - yaeger 13y ago
    >If you search for Southwest Airlines, why should Southwest Airlines not be the top result? Why? Because the homepage of a corporation should not automatically be the top result. If they implemented it that way, they could throw away the entire ranking algos! What if SW Airlines fucks up one day and masses of reporting about this springs up? Yeah, better to have the big ass advert as top result when people searching for southwest. Also, I am fairly certain this is just the start. Next step, widen the results. Search just for "Airlines" and get the big ass ad for Southwest on the top. Other airlines see this and also buy ad space. And pretty soon when you search for "best airline" you will be presented with a page that makes you wonder if you did an image search by accident.
vidarh 13y ago
It is a part of the ad words section. It is paid for, even though they apparently so far are not charging extra for the image.
null_ptr 13y ago
What exactly would you call it then, if not a banner ad? It's a large, colorful, rectangular 5:1 panel that advertises a company. Cut the doublespeak.
- golergka 13y ago
  It's not an ad because it's an organic search result, which is directly relevant to what I'm searching. It's essentially the same as Google Image search result, only better suited for this particular page and request.
  - tedunangst 13y ago
    Today I learned you can pay Google to appear at the top of the organic search results.
    - Dylan16807 13y ago
      1. Prove it. Don't make up examples. 2. Official pages already have the ability to skip the queue, for free.
      - tedunangst 13y ago
        http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/24/google-breaks-promise-banner-ads-search-results http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/24/google-bre...
  - rmxt 13y ago
    Care to elaborate on how its better suited? Why return what you are calling image results on a page that historically has been text only, especially when there exists a perfectly functional Image Search already? Plus, why insert an image at all if not to convert people that would otherwise miss (or not be looking for) the text result?
  - eCa 13y ago
    > Google said that it won't be charging more for the banner ads - which take up large parts of the screen: "they are part of AdWords" [from the linked article] "they are part of AdWords" -> Google considers them to be an an ad. Ads doesn't, per definition, need to be irrelevant.
whyenot 13y ago
It's an ad with a picture as a banner across a significant portion of the browser window. Ducks, quacking, etc.
chollida1 13y ago
> This isn't a banner ad. This is not a duck, its merely an animal that came from a female duck that happens to live in the water and share a nest with other ducks. A banner ad, by definition, is a paid add that is an image. Google is showing banner ads for any definition of the word.
- Dylan16807 13y ago
  It walks like a duck but it doesn't quack like a duck. It shows up upon your specific input of the company name. I'm not sure what to call it, but 'advertisement' seems ill-fitting. Now if it showed up when you typed a generic term like 'airline' I would agree it was an ad. But does it?
  - lisper 13y ago
    It will.
    - awj 13y ago
      Source for that? I'd prefer to hang on to my outrage until it's actually justified.
      - lisper 13y ago
        It's a prediction. Google's trend has been to get further and further away from their original design and core principles and push harder and harder on the boundaries of ethics and good taste. The end-game for that trend is to end up looking like a 1990's-style portal (which they already pretty much do, except at the moment all the content is still mostly Google properties). I could be wrong. I hope I am. But I'd give you long odds against. And I'm not outraged, just disappointed.
        psbp 13y ago
        You're disappointed in your own paranoia?
xux 13y ago
While it may not be a banner ad, it's a foot-in-the-door technique. Display these branded search for a few years, so when they're ready to implement real banner ads, users won't be shocked. Just imagine the press release. "This isn't something new we're doing. We've been experimenting with showing users highly targeted banner image when querying for specific terms. We're only expanding that target to help users find what they need faster." Bam.

This isn't a banner ad. This is essentially a branded search. It's not like Google is targeting users with Flash-based crud here. To call it a banner ad is kind of silly.

nodata 13y ago

Somebody works in marketing :)

freehunter 13y ago
I actually have to agree somewhat, though (and I don't work in marketing). If you search for Southwest Airlines, why should Southwest Airlines not be the top result? Google has been showing pictures and information about people, products, and companies for quite a while now (https://www.google.com/#q=paul+graham https://www.google.com/#q=paul+graham), and shows commonly visited links off the main page of a website (as shown in that search for Paul Graham, they sub-link to his essays and other commonly visited pages). It's very clear the intent of searching for Southwest Airlines; to get information about Southwest Airlines. The only difference between this result and any other result is that Southwest told Google what to put as their picture and sub-links, and Google made them pay for it. Searching for American Airlines shows almost exactly the same thing, except it's automatically populated by Google's engine, rather than being paid for.
- milliams 13y ago
  it shows banner ads for companies including SouthWest Airlines on pages which include them in web search results. It's not just 'If you search for Southwest Airlines'. It's if in the list of results for the thing you searched for there's a Southwest Airlines page. It could be coincidental but suddenly you have a large advertisement at the top of your page. It wouldn't be outside the bounds of possibility for this to encourage Google to rank Southwest Airlines pages more highly so that they can show the banner, thereby generating more revenue.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    I only see the ad when I search directly for "Southwest Airlines". For example, search for "Southwest check in". Southwest Airlines is the number one result, but there's no ad on the page: https://www.google.com/#q=southwest+check+in https://www.google.com/#q=southwest+check+in
    - rafitorres 13y ago
      I see the ad if I search for just "southwest".
      - freehunter 13y ago
        True.
  - psbp 13y ago
    I'm outraged that google could possibly murder puppies.
- yaeger 13y ago
  >If you search for Southwest Airlines, why should Southwest Airlines not be the top result? Why? Because the homepage of a corporation should not automatically be the top result. If they implemented it that way, they could throw away the entire ranking algos! What if SW Airlines fucks up one day and masses of reporting about this springs up? Yeah, better to have the big ass advert as top result when people searching for southwest. Also, I am fairly certain this is just the start. Next step, widen the results. Search just for "Airlines" and get the big ass ad for Southwest on the top. Other airlines see this and also buy ad space. And pretty soon when you search for "best airline" you will be presented with a page that makes you wonder if you did an image search by accident.

vidarh 13y ago

It is a part of the ad words section. It is paid for, even though they apparently so far are not charging extra for the image.

null_ptr 13y ago

What exactly would you call it then, if not a banner ad? It's a large, colorful, rectangular 5:1 panel that advertises a company. Cut the doublespeak.

golergka 13y ago
It's not an ad because it's an organic search result, which is directly relevant to what I'm searching. It's essentially the same as Google Image search result, only better suited for this particular page and request.
- tedunangst 13y ago
  Today I learned you can pay Google to appear at the top of the organic search results.
  - Dylan16807 13y ago
    1. Prove it. Don't make up examples. 2. Official pages already have the ability to skip the queue, for free.
    - tedunangst 13y ago
      http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/24/google-breaks-promise-banner-ads-search-results http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/24/google-bre...
- rmxt 13y ago
  Care to elaborate on how its better suited? Why return what you are calling image results on a page that historically has been text only, especially when there exists a perfectly functional Image Search already? Plus, why insert an image at all if not to convert people that would otherwise miss (or not be looking for) the text result?
- eCa 13y ago
  > Google said that it won't be charging more for the banner ads - which take up large parts of the screen: "they are part of AdWords" [from the linked article] "they are part of AdWords" -> Google considers them to be an an ad. Ads doesn't, per definition, need to be irrelevant.

whyenot 13y ago

It's an ad with a picture as a banner across a significant portion of the browser window. Ducks, quacking, etc.

chollida1 13y ago

> This isn't a banner ad. This is not a duck, its merely an animal that came from a female duck that happens to live in the water and share a nest with other ducks. A banner ad, by definition, is a paid add that is an image. Google is showing banner ads for any definition of the word.

Dylan16807 13y ago
It walks like a duck but it doesn't quack like a duck. It shows up upon your specific input of the company name. I'm not sure what to call it, but 'advertisement' seems ill-fitting. Now if it showed up when you typed a generic term like 'airline' I would agree it was an ad. But does it?
- lisper 13y ago
  It will.
  - awj 13y ago
    Source for that? I'd prefer to hang on to my outrage until it's actually justified.
    - lisper 13y ago
      It's a prediction. Google's trend has been to get further and further away from their original design and core principles and push harder and harder on the boundaries of ethics and good taste. The end-game for that trend is to end up looking like a 1990's-style portal (which they already pretty much do, except at the moment all the content is still mostly Google properties). I could be wrong. I hope I am. But I'd give you long odds against. And I'm not outraged, just disappointed.
      - psbp 13y ago
        You're disappointed in your own paranoia?

xux 13y ago

While it may not be a banner ad, it's a foot-in-the-door technique. Display these branded search for a few years, so when they're ready to implement real banner ads, users won't be shocked. Just imagine the press release. "This isn't something new we're doing. We've been experimenting with showing users highly targeted banner image when querying for specific terms. We're only expanding that target to help users find what they need faster." Bam.