In a request sparked off by public activist Ralph Nader (www.nader.com), the Federal Trade Commission is requesting "the clearer disclosure of the use of paid inclusion, including more conspicuous descriptions of paid inclusion itself".
No legal action is planned at present but the request brings the question of honesty within the Search Engine results into question.
Each search engine, or search property has its own way of displaying its sponsored or PPC links. For example, a search on AltaVista (US) for "cars" will display four site links above the actual search results entitled "Products and Services." Beside this heading, there is an inconspicuous link that says simply "info." This link leads to a popup that says "The Products and Services section provides a list of sites offering items related to the search being performed. These sites have been reviewed by editors for relevance to the search terms, though these listings are independent of the search results from the AltaVista index. Sites advertising in this section have done so either directly through AltaVista, or through our distribution agreement with Overture." Payment is not mentioned.
This is an interesting move towards greater clarity for searchers. Bigmouthmedia's own research has shown that searchers are generally unhappy to click on what they see to be an advertisement, indeed, the fact that the amount bid per click is visible can be a major deterrant to searchers. Our research has shown PPC to be excellent for brand building, and SEO excellent for clicks.
