John Battelle's Searchblog: Yow. Don't Jump the Shark, Google

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December 16, 2005

Yow. Don't Jump the Shark, Google

Google, which prides itself on the purity of its search results, agreed to give favored placement to content from AOL throughout its site, something it has never done before.

If this is true, AOL will once again be the ramp over which a major company jumps the shark.

Posted by John Battelle at December 16, 2005 02:32 PM | TrackBack

Comments:

OMG that is so true. Please say they didn't do that!

- Stuart

Posted by: Stuart MacDonald at December 16, 2005 02:46 PM | Comment Permalink

I can't believe they'd let this interfere with their search results. People wouldn't trust the index, and it would be over.

I suspect that the only 'preferences' will be in the ad placements, and as long as ad companies aren't paying for the top slot and only getting the second, I think it should be fine.

I agree on AOL being a bad-luck charm though. Seriously evil karma.

Posted by: Brock at December 16, 2005 02:54 PM | Comment Permalink

Speaking of advertising I finally found a good spot for Poker advertising, Sportsbook advertising, casino advertising, gambling advertising, gambling banner ads.

Posted by: dave at December 16, 2005 03:14 PM | Comment Permalink

Some more news on News.com :
"Google also could promote AOL Web sites among sponsored links in search results, according to an unidentified source in the report."
http://news.com.com/AOL+to+stick+with+Google/2100-1030_3-5998600.html?tag=nefd.top

Posted by: Emmanuel at December 16, 2005 04:39 PM | Comment Permalink

There is no way Google is going to give AOL favorable placement in their algorythmic search resutls. Zero chance. What they will do is help AOL get the 80% of their pages (a number given by Jonathan Miller himself last week) into their index. Remember, AOL was programming in Rainman until fairly recently. Their site is horribly optimized and this deal is, in part, an effort to speed that up. Plus, Google obvisouly acts as the spoiler to MSN.

Posted by: Brad at December 16, 2005 05:08 PM | Comment Permalink

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