Phlex - 4:32 pm on Oct 13, 2003 (gmt 0)

"Seems like this was the gist of the whole (in the USA) FTC thing & search engine advertising so long ago...in some ways, I think a few members of my family only continue to use Google because they *know* which links are ads & which aren't. "

I'd like to comment on this and similar views. I believe there is a distinct way to circumvent Google's relevancy using affiliate marketing. While researching a phone on Google today I searched this phrase: "<snip>" If you do the same you'll find that 8 of the first 10 listings are to Amazon affiliates. This is true in many, many product categories. Amazon knows that they don't have to do anything to spam the SE's, all they have to do is continue building their affiliate program and make it as attractive as possible for their affiliates. The affiliates in turn do all of the SE placement. It may not be Paid Inclusion but it's definitely a form of advertising.

[edited by: WebGuerrilla at 4:41 pm (utc) on Oct. 13, 2003]
[edit reason] removed specifics [/edit]