“Google Promotion” Box Found On Google Product Search

Jul 27, 2007 at 8:48am ET by Barry Schwartz

Philipp Lenssen reported that Google is now using the Google Promotion label within Google Product Search results, for a promotion of the Google Checkout service above listings.

Ionut Alex. Chitu saw this for a product search on watch and sent Philipp a screen capture. I don’t see the promotion box coming up myself, though Danny does. This is the second sighting of a box labeled “promotion” in Google results.

What is this Google Promotion label? Earlier this month we found Google promoting The Bourne Ultimatum without labeling the ad as a sponsored listing or with any disclaimer. Google then responded by adding the new “Google Promotion” label.

New Google Checkout Promo; New Google Trust Worries and Google Checkout Blogs On Recent Promotions provide more information about concerns that have been raised about Google Checkout being promoted without any disclaimer. Now Google seems to be using the new Google Promotions label as a way to ease some of those concerns.

Perhaps it will also spread for other types of promotions Google does. Fury Over Google’s Self Promotion & Wishing For Perspective covers how earlier this year, Google “tips” pitching Google’s Blogger came under fire as for being seen as unlabeled ads.

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.

See more articles by Barry Schwartz >

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