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Google Uses Search To Push Its Products: WSJ (usatoday.com)

Posted by msmash on from the my-way-or-high-way dept.

Ads for Google and related companies were found in the top spot in 91% of 25,000 searches related to items, according to a report on WSJ. For example, a search for "phones" would produce ads for Google Pixel, which the company launched last year. From a report: Similar results were found for searches on "Watches" or "smoke detector," which produced ads for Android smartwatches and Nest devices, respectively. In a statement, Google says their marketing programs are "carefully designed" to not impact outside advertisers. "All our bids are excluded from the auction when determining the price paid by other advertisers, and we have strict rules and processes -- set to tougher levels than our customers -- to govern the use of our own ads products." The auction is a process deciding which ads will appear for users when they type in certain search queries. Strategies such as using relevant keywords give advertisers a better shot at their ad appearing on a search results page.

5 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Uh... by PessimysticRaven · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, which drawer of "No shit" should I file this under?

    --
    Consistency is only a virtue if you're not a screw-up.
    1. Re:Uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      A for Anti-trust or M for Monopolistic behavior.

  2. I Explain This to Millennials Constantly by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nothing on Google is free. Your choices, selections, opinions, cookies, bookmarks, contents of your email, YouTube habits are continually feeding their algorithms. They control your search results, and return to you that which makes the most profit to them. They'll keep it "correct enough" so as to still be useful and not piss you off. How could it be otherwise? And I am inevitably met with disbelief, as if I am telling them their beloved Uncle Bob has been a closet pedophile for years. We have somehow raised a generation of people who really believe there are free lunches and benign global corporations.

  3. So google uses it's own advertising? by FeelGood314 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is a total non-story. This is like complaining when a TV station airs an ad for a show that it will air.

    Google is using it's own advertising to promote it's own products. They aren't using their search results they are using the paid ads on the search page. Now they are paying themselves for the advertisements but they are also being transparent and honest about it. Also since the ad spots are auctioned every ad google uses is an ad spot that could have been used by a paying customer. So the ads are not free for Google.

  4. WSJ Doesn't Run Ads for Competitors by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When was the last time a news paper ran adverts for their competitors? I mean, if I'm looking at a newspaper I'm probably interested in news right?