Google’s Questionable Search Engine Advertisements
For over a decade, Google has generated revenue by selling the ability to display ads on its search results. Early on Google differentiated advertisements from organic search results by placing a colored background behind advertisements. This allowed users to easily identify which results were organic, and which were advertisements. In 2013, Google decided to make a relatively large change. They dropped the easily identifiable yellow backgrounds previously behind advertisements in favor of small “Ad” labels next to search results.
These new “Ad” markers are much less noticeable to consumers, and seem to blur the lines between organic search results and paid promotion. In fact, “In 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noted a ‘decline in compliance’ of search engines to clearly differentiate ads from organic listings” (SearchEngineLand). While the FTC may have been referring not to google, but to search engines more broadly, this is not necessarily relevant. According to estimates, Google receives roughly 90% of total internet search engine traffic (Statista). Nevertheless, the FTC did not go after Google for their debatably misleading advertising practices on their search engine.
Google possesses enormous power in today’s world, and it has shown constant growth for over a decade. According to Statista, Google’s advertising revenue alone has grown from $1.4 Billion in 2003, to $28 Billion in 2010, to a whopping $116 billion in 2018. Given the immense size and power of Google, shouldn’t the FTC hold them to a strict standard? By changing from their old colored background labels to small “Ad” labels, Google has put consumers at risk of being deceived. It is important to note that Google often places advertisements in the most desirable locations possible, namely the top of the page. Here, unaware and unknowing users click on the links of advertisers not knowing that the companies behind the webpages they are visiting are paying Google for their clicks.
On, https://www.google.com/about/honestresults/, Google claims that advertisers aren’t able to buy better positions in their search results. This is extremely misleading at best, and a blatant lie at worst. Google states that, “every ad on Google is clearly marked and set apart from the actual search results”, even though the webpages area set aside for advertisements is nearly indistinguishable from those areas set aside for organic search results. It is clear that Google is more concerned with generating advertising revenue than providing its users with the best organic search results possible.
In conclusion, Google may have the most sophisticated search engine network in the world, but consumers must be prepared to sift through countless advertisements and paid promotional content for the luxury of utilizing Google’s creation.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266249/advertising-revenue-of-google/