When Search Engines Compete with Marketers

There’s been a concern lately about Google’s AdSense index contaminating natural search results. Says Garrett French of Search Engine Lowdown,

It seems that Google’s SERPs will display fresher content from AdSense publishers that will align with emerging search terms and that AdSense publishers will get more traffic… and Google will get more clicks on its AdSense ads.

This creep between the AdSense index and the main Google index creates a conflict of interest between pure relevance and Google’s immediate financial return.”

Today, David Berkowitz of 360i (no relation to The 360), has an illuminating article for Mediapost about another conflict of interest for search engines. He lays out the threats to marketers from what he calls “hyper-relevant” listings.

 Hyper-relevant search results are newer techniques search engines use to increase the likelihood users will find what they’re looking for. But they end up also putting search engines in competition with both advertisers and the websites represented by natural search results.

Berkowitz explains how Dead Ends, Flypaper and Cross-sells could drive up prices and force advertisers to buy premium placement in sponsored listings. He says,

 “All three categories of Hyper-Relevant results pose threats to marketers and publishers. This is what happens when search engines get so good that they give consumers what they want, even beyond the relevance of the natural and paid results.”

This is a replay of what happened with portals in the 1990s. Portals started out charging other publishers for placement on their front pages and then began adding their own content and services. But search engine conflicts of interest are more subtle — and not apparent to users.

Will advertisers squawk or pay up?