cobalt wrote:To continue within this thread, it would help alot if I knew you were a reader of ResearchBuzz, Search Engine Watch, Search Day or other sites devoted exclusively to analyzing performance and applications of search engines.
I am. I hope that helps. However, as Craven said, what I read isn't going to influence the way Google operates.
A Guide To Buying Your Way In To Search Engines: Paid Placement, Paid Inclusion and Paid Submissions
That article is from SearchEngineWatch.com -- one of the websites you listed as an authority on this subject. Notice that of the 13 top search engines listed there, only 2 of them--Google and Netscape--have no form of paid inclusion in their main results whatsoever, at the time of writing this. I think you should pick this fight with another search engine.
Liars who claim to be able to buy their way into Google's main results for you abound. I too am paid to optimize websites for search engines from time to time, and I have advertised extensively on Google. However, that is completely separate from the normal listings...you still have your normal listing, and signing up for AdWords doesn't affect your normal Google ranking one way or the other. Like Craven & countless other webmasters, I would love to buy my way into Google's results if it were possible.
SearchEngineWatch.com wrote:
[Even with websites that] appear carefully selected, as always, you should think critically about anything published about a search engine that doesn't come from the source.
...And here is the source:
U.S. Manager of Google's AdWords, David Fischer wrote:Fischer: There are problematic elements with the notion of being able to buy your way into search results. So what we at Google do is be really clear about it. When you do research on Google, you get your results down the center of the page.
Those are our main search results and are unbiased in every way. You can't buy your way into listings. At the same time, there are a lot of folks who want their results to show up on Google and want to figure out a way to get some space on the page and advertise their product. Out of that we created the AdWords program.
We like to say, "You can't buy their way into search results, but you can buy their way into advertising."
interview at
http://www.webtalkguys.com/article-adwords.shtml
Here's another (fairly long) article from SearchEngineWatch.com, about some of the negative attention Google receives:
Google: Can The Marcia Brady Of Search Stay Sweet?
