jim2003 - 10:23 pm on Apr 23, 2006 (gmt 0)

I have no axe to grind on this point. But I think it is entirely scalable. Just let the market regulate based on CTR. In my example if apple wants to run thirty ads related to iPods and they all get better click through rates than any other ad, then they get the top 30 positions. Not a complicated concept and totally scalable. You as an individual searcher may hate the 30 Apple sponsored ads listings, but if other searchers disagree with you based on CTR, then I think Google and its searchers are best served to rely on the collective wisdom of thousands and thousands of independent searchers, not the arbitrary decision of an editorial team designing an algorithm.

Having said that, Adwords is Googles toy, they are entitled to play with it however they want. They are even entitled to have different rules for different advertisers if they want.

As long as they honestly disclose the rules and exceptions to the rules so people are not misled, I won't have a beef.