> To google's credit it keeps the organic search and the paid search separate
There is just this oh so very faint difference in background color (rgb(255, 247, 237) instead of rgb(255, 255, 255) which is a joke of a distinction, and depending on viewing angle they both look white on this monitor) and a first line that is very easily overlooked.
Most people here know where the actual results begin, but I bet you that a lot of people do not; my mother sure never realized it until I pointed it out to her. As Erich Schmidt said: "Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.", and it shows. So technically organic and paid search are separate, but practically that separation is so thin it's next to worthless. They A/B test everything, so they surely know that some or even a lot of people confuse ads and actual search results.
Search companies were already advised in 2002 by the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection about the potential for consumers to be deceived, in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, "unless search engines clearly and prominently distinguished advertising from natural search results," Mary K. Engle, associate director at FTC's division of advertising practices, said in the letter.
Companies followed those recommendations in 2002, the FTC said, but since then "we have observed a decline in compliance with the letter's guidance," the group said.
"Top ads," or advertising that is located immediately above the natural results, may be partly to blame, the FTC suggests. The group cites a recent survey by the search strategies company SEOBook that found that nearly half of searchers did not recognize top ads as distinct from natural search results.
> I'm not quite sure how Google could do better while still making money.
Of course, making a clear separation (#ccc for the background, an actual border, the possibilities are endless) would cost them some money, but it's not like they have to be this creepy to make any money at all.
I searched for "google separation of ads and search results" to see how they did it in the past (I'm pretty sure it wasn't always that thin a separation), the first result is https://www.google.com/honestresults.html and returns 404. Hah!
There is just this oh so very faint difference in background color (rgb(255, 247, 237) instead of rgb(255, 255, 255) which is a joke of a distinction, and depending on viewing angle they both look white on this monitor) and a first line that is very easily overlooked.
Most people here know where the actual results begin, but I bet you that a lot of people do not; my mother sure never realized it until I pointed it out to her. As Erich Schmidt said: "Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.", and it shows. So technically organic and paid search are separate, but practically that separation is so thin it's next to worthless. They A/B test everything, so they surely know that some or even a lot of people confuse ads and actual search results.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240348/FTC_advises_G...
Search companies were already advised in 2002 by the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection about the potential for consumers to be deceived, in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, "unless search engines clearly and prominently distinguished advertising from natural search results," Mary K. Engle, associate director at FTC's division of advertising practices, said in the letter.
Companies followed those recommendations in 2002, the FTC said, but since then "we have observed a decline in compliance with the letter's guidance," the group said.
"Top ads," or advertising that is located immediately above the natural results, may be partly to blame, the FTC suggests. The group cites a recent survey by the search strategies company SEOBook that found that nearly half of searchers did not recognize top ads as distinct from natural search results.
> I'm not quite sure how Google could do better while still making money.
Of course, making a clear separation (#ccc for the background, an actual border, the possibilities are endless) would cost them some money, but it's not like they have to be this creepy to make any money at all.
I searched for "google separation of ads and search results" to see how they did it in the past (I'm pretty sure it wasn't always that thin a separation), the first result is https://www.google.com/honestresults.html and returns 404. Hah!