I have always been a Google fan and now am witnessing its increasing focus towards advertising revenues. Buying YouTube is one example. Buying Writely made sense as Google did not have the word processor technology but Google already had video technology. They seem to have bought YouTube primarily for the sake of eyeballs.
When Google launched customised search, I had a look at it and was not surprised to find that to use customised search one will have to show the advertisements of Google. Now, if a site owner wants users to search own site, generally he/she would not want to send them away.
The worst policy is that of showing advertisements at the top of the search page. It may give the impression that the site at the top is rated no. 1. The fact is that the site may be far behind in ratings but gets that position because it pays money. It is true that the area where these links are displayed is marked sponsored links and is shown in light colour but a person searching may not notice these things and may be inclined to click the first link.
When Google launched customised search, I had a look at it and was not surprised to find that to use customised search one will have to show the advertisements of Google. Now, if a site owner wants users to search own site, generally he/she would not want to send them away.
The worst policy is that of showing advertisements at the top of the search page. It may give the impression that the site at the top is rated no. 1. The fact is that the site may be far behind in ratings but gets that position because it pays money. It is true that the area where these links are displayed is marked sponsored links and is shown in light colour but a person searching may not notice these things and may be inclined to click the first link.