Does adwords effect generic placement?

[fotops]

Perhaps this has been discussed...
If so, please bear with me till I'm up to speed.

I am wondering what impact adwords has on generic positioning?

[Israel]

Hi Fotops,

If you're talking about the free SERP listings in Google, the answer appears to be no effect.

It's been discussed here extensively, many consiracy theories have been bandied about that people have been forced out of the Google index to get them to pay for Adwords. However, there is no hard evidence to support that. It has been denied by our Google rep (user name = AWA) repeatedly.

I'm inclined to believe the "no effect" arguments that have been presented too.

Israel