randle - 5:04 pm on Sep 22, 2011 (gmt 0)

They are most certainly fixing bid prices on Adwords at the very least. The 'Quality Score' algorithm allowed them to go away from an auction based system to one where they can simply increase bid prices on a whim and claim it's quality score related. You as an advertiser have no way to know what's going on.

Exactly, compared to any shenanigans that could be going on with organic results (which I don't believe they engage in) the PPC world is where their just sweeping in billions through the Quality Score "process". Could you ever imagine TV networks charging advertisers via some mysterious formula?