Controversial Google Search Feature Launched in Australia and NZ
By Martin Kelly, Editor, Search Engine Room
GOOGLE has introduced its contentious ‘search within a search’ feature to the Australian and NZ markets. The feature was first rolled out in the US and UK earlier this year, where it met strong opposition.
The secondary search box only appears when users search for a major brand such as the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age or Qantas. Using The Age as an example, the box appears below the primary listing with a button that says: ‘search theage.com.au’. Type in ‘jobs’ and the organic listings will be from The Age website.
But the paid results are from any advertiser who has bid for that search term. So someone who actually wanted to go to The Age may end up at a rival site, denying The Age potential revenue. The same thing happens with Qantas, which has also been blessed with one of these boxes. Type in 'airfares' and you’ll get plenty of Qantas organic results but also several paid ads from competitors such as Virgin Blue.
Of course, any revenue generated by people clicking on these paid ads goes straight to Google. No surprise this feature created real issues in the US when introduced and many e-retailers including Amazon protested and opted out. Seems it’s just been launched here, so no real reaction yet. Be interesting to see what transpires. Search Engine Room: July 29, 2008
