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The main difference seems to be that today even getting the top organic search result doesn't provide enough clicks for advertisers, so they feel obliged to pur

The main difference seems to be that today even getting the top organic search result doesn't provide enough clicks for advertisers, so they feel obliged to purchase ads for their own brand names even when they already rank first. It should be noted that this instance is simply a test and should not be taken as an indication of how these ads will be purchased. While I'm sure there will be numerous advertisers who feel the need to have a large banner when their specific brand is searched for, I expect them to be in the minority. The real question is will I be seeing a banner for Southwest when I search for JetBlue.

subsystem 13y ago
"The real question is will I be seeing a banner for Southwest when I search for JetBlue." It's not so much what you are going to see, as what you're not going to see. I'm sure BP is happy to buy a shiny image ad and take traffic away from wikipedias article on the deepwater horizon oil spill.
- bennyg 13y ago
  Unless that ad doesn't knock the Deepwater Horizon down past the fold, and it paints BP in a terrible light. It can go both ways.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    When searching for "BP", all of the results are relevant, but none are about Deepwater Horizon. Interestingly though, at the bottom of the page, I see Google has an "In-depth Articles" section that has three articles, all about spills, two of them critical of BP.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
ChuckMcM 13y ago
This may be fallout from trademark owners losing their various lawsuits against Google for allowing competitors to advertise on their trademark as keyword. (See this article: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/05/google_crushes.htm http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/05/google_crushes....) So now they may be the top organic result (or even a navigation result) but JetBlue or United or whatever can buy a banner on top that has their airline telling the searcher how much better they are than the other guys. This is great for Google, now Southwest has to pay to advertise or get side swiped by a competitor, and because its an auction system their competitor can bid up the keywords to negatively impact Southwest, forcing higher ad rates. Win win win for Google, not so great for Southwest Airlines).
- ryanhuff 13y ago
  If they follow through with what you suggest, I wonder if it will be the straw that breaks the camels back in regards to an antitrust lawsuit by the government.
  - r0h1n 13y ago
    Why should that be the case? Google had defended and won most cases around the world where brands accused it of allowing competitors to show ads against their keyword searches. Why should banner ads be treated any differently by antitrust regulators?
    - ryanhuff 13y ago
      The issue that I see (IANAL) is that these incremental changes to embedded advertising within search encroach ever-closer to a form of paid-search. When you own 60-70% of search, and you start requiring companies to pay in order to appear above the fold, we may have a problem.
- lotu 13y ago
  I'm pretty sure the banner can only appear when you have the top organic search result. So JetBlue couldn't buy the banner for Southwest. Furthermore, the idea is that the user is trying to find Southwest so redirecting them to JetBlue would make not sense.
- mirkules 13y ago
  It may not necessarily be a win-win for Google. It could actually make search worse. Consider if I search for Southwest Airlines and get a big Jet Blue banner that takes up 88% of vertical space, this would actually make me very agitated as a search consumer - it's almost the same as displaying a popup ad.

subsystem 13y ago

"The real question is will I be seeing a banner for Southwest when I search for JetBlue." It's not so much what you are going to see, as what you're not going to see. I'm sure BP is happy to buy a shiny image ad and take traffic away from wikipedias article on the deepwater horizon oil spill.

bennyg 13y ago
Unless that ad doesn't knock the Deepwater Horizon down past the fold, and it paints BP in a terrible light. It can go both ways.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  When searching for "BP", all of the results are relevant, but none are about Deepwater Horizon. Interestingly though, at the bottom of the page, I see Google has an "In-depth Articles" section that has three articles, all about spills, two of them critical of BP.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

ChuckMcM 13y ago

This may be fallout from trademark owners losing their various lawsuits against Google for allowing competitors to advertise on their trademark as keyword. (See this article: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/05/google_crushes.htm http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/05/google_crushes....) So now they may be the top organic result (or even a navigation result) but JetBlue or United or whatever can buy a banner on top that has their airline telling the searcher how much better they are than the other guys. This is great for Google, now Southwest has to pay to advertise or get side swiped by a competitor, and because its an auction system their competitor can bid up the keywords to negatively impact Southwest, forcing higher ad rates. Win win win for Google, not so great for Southwest Airlines).

ryanhuff 13y ago
If they follow through with what you suggest, I wonder if it will be the straw that breaks the camels back in regards to an antitrust lawsuit by the government.
- r0h1n 13y ago
  Why should that be the case? Google had defended and won most cases around the world where brands accused it of allowing competitors to show ads against their keyword searches. Why should banner ads be treated any differently by antitrust regulators?
  - ryanhuff 13y ago
    The issue that I see (IANAL) is that these incremental changes to embedded advertising within search encroach ever-closer to a form of paid-search. When you own 60-70% of search, and you start requiring companies to pay in order to appear above the fold, we may have a problem.
lotu 13y ago
I'm pretty sure the banner can only appear when you have the top organic search result. So JetBlue couldn't buy the banner for Southwest. Furthermore, the idea is that the user is trying to find Southwest so redirecting them to JetBlue would make not sense.
mirkules 13y ago
It may not necessarily be a win-win for Google. It could actually make search worse. Consider if I search for Southwest Airlines and get a big Jet Blue banner that takes up 88% of vertical space, this would actually make me very agitated as a search consumer - it's almost the same as displaying a popup ad.