Danny Sullivan article on Google update, Sponsored by Google.com?

Is it really sponsored by Google?

[Clark]

Was thinking about crosslinking and big sites who could easily be accused....cnet.com came to mind but the biggest I can think of is Internet.com (PR8) and their monster list of affiliated sites. So visiting them I ran into this article:

[clickz.com...]

by Danny Sullivan. Sponsored by Google.com? Now that's weird.

Webmasterworld did get mentioned of course.

[oilman]

very interesting - looks more like an ad than sponsor - it's not even a text link - it's a gif. Here's the link it's pointing at:

Clickz link [clickz.com] - you wind up at the Google Adwords page.

[heini]

The sponsorlink is to the adwords start page :)

But as a physical ailment, "Google Syndrome" was coined by WebmasterWorld member NGene in March to describe those who chronically fret about Google

[Chndru]

Google Banner Ads? I think it is the first time i see in a non-google site? Is finally, google growing too big for itself to handle?

[heini]

Google has contrary to popular belief done banners for a long time.

[Chndru]

oh..maybe it is time to look into the banners properly to see who does wat. Thanks for the info. You mean google did banner ads in non-google affiliated sites? would you give some examples?
Thanks

[agerhart]

I haven't seen too many, but Google ran large banners on Adage.com before.

[jeremy goodrich]

Google ran some banners on SearchEngineWorld.com [SearchEngineWorld.com] back in 1999 :)

[rcjordan]

>banners
>adage

Yeah, I've seen them mostly on sites tuned to media-buyers. I think I've also seen them on BusinessWeek or similar name-brand business site.

[TheWhippinpost]

I would like to diagnose another google-ailment; Post Traumatic Google Disorder!

Thank you...got me coat, I'll be off then!

[Clark]

I have another question I'd like to put out to you all, but first I'd let to get this ad question clear. Is this some adwords-related program? Or is it a commission/affiliate program type thing? Or are they bona fide deciding to advertise with this one particular site?

My other questions...Should Google be advertising on web sites? Is it "fair? Can it be considered biased? If you were a competitor to Internet.com and you saw Google advertising on your competitor's site would you call that practice into question? Would you argue that they are unfairly "endorsing" one site over another?

It doesn't bother me that they do, but as Google gets more power, these type of questions come up when you as a webmaster expect Google to evenhandedly index, spider and rank sites...