Google takes aim at comparison sites...

[Edwin]

I believe this is relatively new, as it's the first time I'm seeing it.

On a search for "credit cards", Google is returning 4 ads above the fold, including a new "Comparison" ad type positioned above and slightly separate from the regular ad slots.

I imagine this is going to pour cold water all over the various comparison sites further down the SERPS, which find themselves even further below the fold and "beaten" by an ad in a position they can't buy into, even if they were the top Adwords bidder!

 

[mat]

I saw this a while back. I can't remember what the exact search was for though.

 

[Retired_member41]

So can anyone see a pattern as to where google is going?

Over the next year you will see google adding to it's product/service review database maybe even some related purchases if review type businesses.

Looks like a move Montgomery would be proud of.

I could be wrong of course

 

[Edwin]

So can anyone see a pattern as to where google is going?

I'm afraid it's very obvious, and they're not even being very secretive about it. Anywhere where there is a "middleman" role to be taken between a buyer of "something" (product/service/whatever) and a potential customer, Google wants to have a cut of that transaction. Be it an Adwords click, a straightforward referral commission (Google is its own super-affiliate) or what have you...

 

[GreyWing]

I do wonder though if Google could be drawing too much attention to itself in the eyes of the regulators of the EU.

They are risking two things in my opinion, 1 getting so big that Governments will be concerned over market share. 2 that people will see it more as a website than a search engine.

Both are a few years off but the seeds are being planted.....

 

[Edwin]

Microsoft survived countless legal challenges just fine. It seems to be a constant series of "locking the stable door after the horse has bolted" exercises, because each case takes so long to come to court and get decided that the goalposts have moved dramatically from wherever they were at the time the case was first filed. Google's not going to have everything its own way, but it's pulling so very hard in so many different directions that by and large it's going to get its way.

Of course, just like Microsoft was sandbagged by Facebook, Apple etc. in various markets, it is going to be in the marketplace that Google might - just might - start to get its comeuppance. But waiting for regulators to administer a slap on the wrist that really hurts - that's a wait that will probably go on forever...

 

[GreyWing]

I think the area they are most likely to get slapped down for as the extras it provides. It basically subsidises those maps, news, gmail from profits from it's main adsense service.

That's a fairly big no no in British business not to mention the EU. It's quite anti competitive and I think that is what people will be arguing as Google keeps branching out.

Take your site maps.co.uk, if you were ever to start a site in competition you wouldn't be on a fair playing field with them. They would bring in huge cash reserves from other parts and attempt to run you over. Might sounds fair to some but it's highly illegal in theory. That's just one extreme example but if they keeps branching out it's going to stifle competition it's going to hit more and more people and eventually the EU will insist on splitting its European operations.

I dislike the EU but when it comes to acting against global super giants it does the job better than the UK, Germany, Spain etc all acting on their own. I think they started investigating them a few years ago for this but not heard anything since so may be on the back burner.

 

[Blossom]

Isn't it just this?

http://www.leadconfidential.com/goo...-the-lead-gen-world-what-it-really-means.html

http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/comparisonads.html

 

[JMOT]

This has been around for a good while now.. about a year in the US, more recently UK. They do it on loans, mortgages, credit cards and soon travel.

God bless Bing and all those who search on her. That 36% and rising search share in the US gives me hope

 

[WaftyCrank]

I think Bing shall now on be my search engine of choice. I have also ditched my Google+ account because I don't like the way Google are heading. They're essentially squeezing the life out of a major share of online enterprise.

 

[scooter]

They are fast becoming the Tesco of the internet. They are going to slurp everthing up. They have the data and they have the audience. Just a matter of how and when they implement each given category.

This was posted a while back on the forum but worth watching if you missed. A soon to be massive revenue stream for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBicXcJkra4&feature=player_embedded



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[newguy]

Gotta hurt if you rank pretty well for these ultra competitive terms. Not much that can be done about though I guess.

 

[dta]

just shows that any online biz needs to have a strategy beyond relying on google serps to generate traffic & business...

 

[simonb]

I rank quite highly for most mortgage terms and it's hit me by about 10% I reckon. They started doing this at the start of August for just 3 keywords then rolled it out to every mortgage keyword a week later. All this comes just a few months after buying BeatThatQuote.com

I have no doubt they will move to any vertical they think they can make money in. Their problems are the service isn't that good - they only serve paid sponsors and they are hitting the companies that spend the most money with them the most (MSM etc..) Consumers will get savey to it and start to see Google as just another profit making business which we all know it is but somehow consumers tend to almost think of it as a friendly service. This could be the thing that tips the balance and starts to make consumers really think about where they start their browsing from. The winners? Bing potentially but it will take time.

 

[scooter]

consumers tend to almost think of it as a friendly service.

That's the problem. It is a friendly service. (It may not be good service yet) but to get all the info you need in the least clicks possible will always get the customers vote as long as they perceive they are also getting the best price and no better place to do it than in a top page position with every search. People are lazy.

I can see Bing going down this road. They already serve ads.



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[Aegean]

They do it on loans, mortgages, credit cards and soon travel.

What JMOT said is correct, I am aware that Google is just about to use their own services for hotels and flights. These primary Google results will appear above all other websites, so any hard work done by hotel and travel sites over the years to gain a decent spot in the Google serps will have to play second fiddle to Googles own data.

I remember what Matt Cutts said once when someone was complaining about the advent of ads at the top of Google serps. He said "The fact is that it's our index". Thats the bottom line, Google can do what it wants with its own index.

In addition, I believe their customer and user base is now so large now that for small businesses, such as hotels, its hard to say no to the power of the Google brand, the sheer size of their userbase and the likely technology they will offer.

 

[thecat]

This has been around for a long time in the US. I strongly suspect a big anti trust suit will be filed by the EU, I am shocked it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Deltrus]

Isn't there a multi-billion dollar industry around affiliate marketing? You'd think that the industry would have some sort of self preservation mechanism in place. If not then that is just what they should be aiming for ASAP otherwise their whole business model will be taken over by the big guys.

 

[lancsman]

Interesting this one.....and worrying

Are they just going to prioritise their own 'connected' services, or are they going to create a new brand for their travel services ????

John

 

[theonemanyuri]

It's a piece of advice I try and live by and I know others on here have said it, always leave enough for the next person to wet their beak. Google want everything and eventually it will go bad for them, but as others have said I can't see it being anytime soon unfortunately