[WEB4LIB] Google Sponsored Links

[Virginia Smith]

Hello Craighton,

I concur with your concerns regarding advertisements and editorial integrity. As you probably, know the dot.com boom has recently been labeled the dot.com bust. One of the biggest impacts we'll see as librarians is the change in advertising techniques and fee structures. At the recent Internet Librarians conference, Chris Sherman of Search Engine Watch, asked us to ponder a future without
search engines. In light of today's economic climate, it's a very real possibility. Unfortunately, Google is not immune.

Please don't get me wrong, I'd also  prefer not to see the advertisements, but it may be necessary in lieu of having to pay a fee to use the service. On a related note- in a recent search at About.com, the link I was looking for was actually located in the Sprinks (paid advertisement) section.

Aloha, Virginia

***********************************************
Virginia Smith
Assistant Librarian
Gemini Observatory
670 A'ohoku Place
Hilo, HI  96720

vsmith at gemini.edu

Craighton Hippenhammer wrote:

> I knew Google has long had advertizements but now I'm seeing sponsored links that appear at the top of the first page of search results.  I thought they prided themselves on not stooping to this level.  See, for example, their page http://www.google.com/technology/index.html that says:
>
> "Integrity
> "Google's complex, automated methods make human tampering with our results extremely difficult. And though we do run relevant ads above and next to our results, Google does not sell placement within the results themselves (i.e., no one can buy a higher PageRank). A Google search is an easy, honest and objective way to find high-quality websites with information relevant to your search."
> Other than the designation of "Sponsored Links," these advertizements both look like results, and as I understand it, are pulled up at the top of the results list based on the keywords that are entered.  Looks to me like they're in bed with all the other search engines doing the same thing.
>
> Craighton Hippenhammer
> Information Technology Librarian
> Olivet Nazarene University
> chhammer at olivet.edu
>
> *********************************************************************
> Due to deletion of content types excluded from this list by policy,
> this multipart message was reduced to a single part, and from there
> to a plain text message.
> *********************************************************************