Paid Search Sucks
from the well,-duh dept
An opinion piece over at News.com has decided that paid search results like Overture (formerly GoTo) are a dangerous thing for the future of the internet. He thinks that the problems is that there hasn't been enough moral outrage from internet users. He's wrong. There's been plenty of outrage and it simply hasn't helped - because these companies are making money. His comparison is that we should be able to shame companies into getting rid of paid links in the same way they got rid of porn on sites like Yahoo. It's an interesting idea, except for two things: (1) there's no way that paid links get the same "moral" reaction as porn and (2) everyone just uses Google anyway, which doesn't do paid links. In this case, it's pretty easy to vote with your clicks. If you don't like paid listings (and I don't), don't use a site that offers them. Very simple and very effective.
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simple and effective until....
They've gotta make a living somehow. What prevents them from doing paid links too? That's right. Nothing.
They already have those little ads in their search results. It's a slippery slope...
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