beat the competition 
posted in Google Advertising Itself on Google
When typing in keywords like 'blog' in Google, you'll see what looks like a sponsored link to Blogger.com - until you realise Google recently bought Blogger - so it's actually some self-advertising. This is apparently happening more often on a number of searches - with a number of Google's purchased companies appearing at the top of results as if it was a sponsored result. A Firefox employee noticed this too.... | Call me naive: I think you can make a lot of money, go public, even monopolize a market, and still retain a moral compass that points in the direction of Google’s stated top priority—users. But Google lost me today:
Google is now displaying “tips” that point searchers to Google Calendar, Blogger and Picasa for any search phrase.... |  |
Link to full article
Courtesy of blakeross.com
An employee of Google responds:-
|
If a Google searcher types in [picture] or [hard drive images], offering a tip to use Google Image Search makes sense to me because it tells a user that they should try image searches instead. Image search tips have been running for quite a while and users generally haven’t objected. But everyone will have different opinions about what is fine or problematic. Here’s why these recent Google tips went over the line for me personally: they’re often poorly targeted or irrelevant. I’ll mention a few searches I’ve done in the last few days where I got annoyed | |
link to full article (from mattcutts.com)
.....and in response to that, another commentator adds:-
| And while Matt Cutts, the unofficial Google blogger, deals with the Ross post in a straightforward and honest way, I think he should be far more critical of his company. Even to the point of risking his job. Because that is exactly what Google needs right now. | |
Share this article:
view my profile on Google+