I wonder if google feels dirty after putting that ad on their homepage

[limoshawn]

ANyone notice that ad on google's sacred home page today? I wonder if they feel dirty...

(for those who did not see it, the ad was for a cell phone at available for free at a big electronics store and it was right under the search box.)

[tedster]

Why would they feel dirty? It's a simple text ad, one day only for a free Nexus phone using their own operating system. The click-through leads to more details hosted on their own site.

[Leosghost]

In France, I got the link which said "free" ( my Google is set to point to US results )..and on click through ..a page with a "choose your country" drop down box ..and a "refresh" to an offer to buy a nexus!

[dcheney]

Yep ... dirty all the way to the bank ;-)

[supercyberbob]

Super dirty.

[Leosghost]

French price ( from Google's "partners" ) for the nexus S ( I just checked ) is €509.oo or $728.95.. !

French Google ( Google.fr ) is not carrying any ad..I don't think they will get many takers at that price.. apparently neither did they ..

[MrSavage]

Just imagine with all their current properties, they could do this on a semi daily basis and not repeat the product for quite some time.

[tedster]

I just can't see criticizing Google for marketing and trying to build profits. They are a for-profit corporation after all, and that ad was extremely low key.

According to published stories, they have long had fierce internal discussions about how "clean" to keep to home page. So they thought this was a reason to experiment. Well, home pages that are geared toward building profits, directly or indirectly, are extremely common.

[Freedom]

Mmmm, little dirty, but smells like desperation to keep Wall Street happy.

[Leosghost]

I have no problem with them running the "free" ad ( as tedster says it was very low key ) ..I do have a problem with the price here though ..so will many others ..especially given that any problems on android phones here result in frenetic attempts at "buck passing" to G from the vendors and total silence from G..

[jimbeetle]

that ad was extremely low key

I've been to the Google home page at least twenty times today and I didn't even notice it.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Free?

Clicking on the 'BUY NOW' link results in * Requires 2-year contract

Ads on the home page diminish the value of Google's organic search greatly. The days of free traffic may be numbered unless another startup launches a competing engine that revives what Google used to be, a pure search engine.

If that startup avoids being on Wall St I'd hit it. Money, money money...

[Leosghost]

The 2 year contract was on offer here too..at €49.oo per month ( with a "not the best plan on the market by far for a mobile" even from the same vendor(s)..and the phone at €1.oo )..or just the phone at €509.oo.

I though the US offer might have been genuinely "free" as in "beer"..as it wasn't ..

"the Shark was officially jumped at Google..3rd august 2011"

[lucy24]

The days of free traffic may be numbered unless another startup launches a competing engine that revives what Google used to be, a pure search engine.

But if all the Big Webmasters whitelist robots, admitting only the ones from known, established search engines, then where would the competition do its crawling? A genuinely new search engine would only be able to offer a "best of the rest".

Which could be interesting ;)

[MrSavage]

I doubt that this indiscreet ad, and certainly it is just that, helps the accusations and impending legal proceedings against Google. Think about it. I went to Google homepage for what? To search. I didn't type in Google.com to find a google product. I went there to find their search bar. Once I do a search, yes ads make sense. I personally think it's minor, yet it's not minor. If it went overboard, and say it was suddenly a listing of 5 google products instead, then that changes the principle? No it doesn't. Indiscreet or not, it's not going to help their image. I'm not smart, but does Bing throw up ads on the Bing.com page? As in, give the Google example, Bing can add a Windows 7 coupon link or product link on the page? Just wondering. Sure they own Hotmail and that's there on the landing page. For me though, regardless of a big deal or not, it's just one more thing recently that's whittling away on my trust of Google. And that's not something I could say a year ago.

[limoshawn]

I just can't see criticizing Google for marketing and trying to build profits

Personally I'm not criticizing google over this, google has made their own bed on this one now they have to lay in it. I don't care what they do but you can't preach one thing for years on end and then spit in that idea's face without some ridicule. I can remember when the folks at google used to snicker at yahoo because of all their ads on their homepage and they would talk about how much better it was to have a clean, ad free, home page to make it easier on the searcher. In hindsight maybe google was just doing that back then to try and cover up the fact that they had to steal from yahoo (overture) to become a business.

this ad is nothing to criticize google about in and of itself. It is however a glaring indication of the hypocrite the is today's "must make more profit" google.

[EvilSaint]

Not seeing the link here in Australia but have seen it on the .com version and the Buy Now does take me to a page where they partnered with Vodafone AU to sell their 2 year contract.

[tangor]

I'm just a bit surprised it took them so long! (And expect more of same after the shock of doing it passes... as it will)

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

that ad was extremely low key

No ad on a Google homepage can be low key.

[tangor]

Curiosity... who quits because G changed the game? Hands?

I thought so.

But expect more of the same, and the attrition regarding sites Every Where...

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Not me or very few others. Why? Because Google has placed itself as the the only game in town and there are no viable alternatives.

Here in the UK G provides about 95% of my traffic. Tell me how I quit?

[limoshawn]

A google big enough to give you everything you want is a google big enough to take everything you have.

A little off topic but the moral is, as always, don't keep all of your eggs in one basket. Don't allow google to be in a position to make you rich or poor. google is always going to do what's best for google, that's not good or bad in general but it may not always be good for you.

_{original quote by Gerald Ford related to a government big enough...}

[Leosghost]

btw..lest any be tempted
[google.co.uk...]

Same model nexus S ..apparently searches ( and thus uses up your data plan ) all by itself..

Beware "Googles" bearing "gifts" ..?

[CainIV]

Here in the UK G provides about 95% of my traffic. Tell me how I quit?

This is the problem, and likely why the post author posted the title that he did.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

This is the problem, and likely why the post author posted the title that he did.

Yes, precisely!

Don't allow google to be in a position to make you rich or poor.

So if Google provides 95% of my traffic what is the alternative?

[limoshawn]

So if Google provides 95% of my traffic what is the alternative?

Option 1. live with the fact that at any second you could be living on 5% of your current traffic and you have no control over it whatsoever.

option 2. start getting business from other sources. amazingly (and I googled this for confirmation) there were people in business before google ever existed. in fact here in the U.S., the Ford Motor Company was selling cars nationally before google, television, or national radio stations ever existed.

google just put an ad on their homepage for their own product, a cell phone. the mere fact that google has "products" is scary enough. if I was in the cell phone niche and i depended on organic traffic from google i would be scared poopless right now. the writing is on the wall, the bubble is on the verge of bursting.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I live with the fact that Google is the only viable option for my business and there is very little I can do about it. That is what concerns people about Google's dominance. The bottom line for me is that people use the Internet to find the services I offer and Google dominates Internet search.

Oh and actually I was aware that there were people in business before Google. I lived for almost half a century before they started and I owned a Ford too but thanks for the info anyway.

[limoshawn]

I'm not concerned about google's dominance. I will continue to enjoy the low hanging fruit that is google while building business models that are not dependent on that fruit, businesses that will benefit from the sweeter fruit at the top of the tree no matter how rotten the low hanging fruit becomes. I will not lie to myself about the existence of other options for my business just because it is easier to let google pick the fruit for me.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Ah, you know so much about my business that you think I am lying to myself?

[alika]

Can you imagine what the reaction will be when G starts doing something like the Bing Rewards Preview where you get redeemable points for using their search engine?