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A new tool from Google alarms sites

March 25, 2008 | Internet Marketing

Google introduced a search-within-search feature that lets users stay on Google to find pages on popular sites. The problem, for some in the industry, is that when someone enters a term into that secondary search box, Google will display ads for competing sites, thereby profiting from ads it sells against the brand.

Analysts generally praise the feature as helping users save steps, but for Web publishers and retailers, there are trade-offs. While the service could help increase traffic, some users could be siphoned away as Google uses the prominence of the brands to sell ads, typically to competing companies.

“Google is showing a level of aggressiveness with this that’s just not needed,” said Alan Rimm-Kaufman, a former executive with the electronics retailer Crutchfield who is now an Internet consultant. Google’s aggressiveness, Mr. Rimm-Kaufman said, ignores a user’s desire to reach a specific destination and it costs those Web sites visitors.

Google said it had not received many complaints directly from companies, but some search-engine specialists were quick to pounce when the company announced its service.

Get the full story at The New York Times

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