Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 211 posts

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#51

Post by peterwwillis »

I love how people continue to attach emotional investment to an arbitrary thing like a corporation. Apologists, fanboys, and people with a child-like innocence. Do you really expect a for-profit company will stick to a promise like it means something?

The entire point behind a capitalist corporation is to make more profit, year after year. That is the entire idea behind the stock market. To think that they'd evade eventually exploring every avenue available to avoid making more money is mad.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#52

Post by peejaybee »

T-hawk wrote: post #35

It's arguable that queries like [southwest airlines] are even a search. The vast majority of instances are probably URL-illiterate users merely trying to get to Southwest Airlines' web site. (And Google must know rather precisely just how many.) For these users, search is really operating as a natural-language alternative to DNS so such a clickable banner will help them get there. More than just advertising, this rep…

I would say that even URL-literate users use it this way, because the business-to-URL mapping is not always clear, and the naive guess is sometimes the worst possible one (e.g. Dick's Sporting Goods.)

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#54

Post by netcan »

T-hawk wrote: post #35

It's arguable that queries like [southwest airlines] are even a search. The vast majority of instances are probably URL-illiterate users merely trying to get to Southwest Airlines' web site. (And Google must know rather precisely just how many.) For these users, search is really operating as a natural-language alternative to DNS so such a clickable banner will help them get there. More than just advertising, this rep…

arguable, sure. I wouldn't call it an airtight argument, especially as it extends to more search terms.

In some cases, it's a 'natural-language alternative to DNS.' In some very similar cases, it's not. If Southwest Airlines crashes today, there will be a lot of people on that results page looking for news or pictures.

In some cases, it just isn't clear what the right page is.If you google the name of a local restaurant, you might find their site at #1 but in a lot of cases, a restaurant's site isn't the best place for info. Maybe their facebook page is. Maybe some aggregator site is. Google (supposedly neutrally) tells you what the best place for this is.

In this particular case, wikipedia is the right answer the the "Southwest Airlines" query a substantial portion of the time.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#55

Post by chollida1 »

shortformblog wrote: post #25

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.

> 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.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#56

Post by angryasian »

the reality is , is that in general people like pleasant associated images. Its only mirroring the way that Facebook has a cover photo on profiles and made a difference in the way that profiles are viewed. Why not extract money when a corporation is searched for and show a profile for them. Similar to facebook and searching for a user. I think it will become an issues when corporation decide they want to use the image, like a banner ad vs a nice associated image.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#57

Post by mynewwork »

peterwwillis wrote: post #51

I love how people continue to attach emotional investment to an arbitrary thing like a corporation. Apologists, fanboys, and people with a child-like innocence. Do you really expect a for-profit company will stick to a promise like it means something? The entire point behind a capitalist corporation is to make more profit, year after year. That is the entire idea behind the stock market. To think that they'd evade ev…

But there are plenty of companies that make a lot of money specifically because they 'stick to a promise'.

Whole Foods, Chipotle, REI, Patagonia all spring to mind as companies that I will happily pay a premium to shop at because of things they do that fall outside of the ruthless race to the bottom to cut costs. They make a profit off of me specifically because they stick to promises like "don't put antibiotics in chicken feed" or "don't use sweatshop labor".

I don't care about a banner ad the way I care about antibiotic use in agriculture, so this doesn't matter to me, but maybe someone out there does and will stop being a profitable google customer because of this action.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#58

Post by milliams »

freehunter wrote: post #36
nodata wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somebody works in marketing :)

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 ), and shows commonly visited links off the main page of a website (as shown in that search for Paul Grah…

  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.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#59

Post by Brakenshire »

peterwwillis wrote: post #51

I love how people continue to attach emotional investment to an arbitrary thing like a corporation. Apologists, fanboys, and people with a child-like innocence. Do you really expect a for-profit company will stick to a promise like it means something? The entire point behind a capitalist corporation is to make more profit, year after year. That is the entire idea behind the stock market. To think that they'd evade ev…

This is in turn naive, as if corporations operate within a mathematical model, not the real world. Corporations rely very heavily on the trust of their customers, whether those are consumers, or other businesses. Google's entire business model rests on the willingness of its consumers to hand over their data, the value of their word is fundamental to future profitability. Although admittedly this particular issue is not directly important in that sense.

Re: Google breaks 2005 promise never to show banner ads on search results

#60

Post by golergka »

null_ptr wrote: post #41
shortformblog wrote: post #25

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.

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.

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.
Post reply on HN