March 27, 2008 | Thursday

Google causes controversy with launch of secondary search box

A new development in Google’s natural search results has caused controversy within the sector after specialists claimed it could damage the commercial models of online brands.

Google now provides a ‘search within a site’ box for some results, including The Sun, Lastminute.com and John Lewis. This allows users to search those sites from the Google page, rather than using their own internal search sector.

This box appears as part of the results when these brands are searched for on Google.

Search specialists have warned that this ‘secondary search’ box could divert traffic from the home page of the sites selected, adversely affecting their ad revenues. Ciaran Norris, SEO director at Altogether Digital, said, “On-site advertising is served less frequently, which could have an adverse affect on a site that has a CPM model.”

Simon Thompson, chief marketing officer of Lastminute.com, said that the search box is good if it helps people get to the page they want.

But he added, “That said, our mission is to get people directly to our site and not via the ever-inflating PPC route. This isn’t a long-term option. Building a strong brand in the consumer’s eye is more important than it has ever been.”

Third-party pay-per-click ads are also served against some results using the search box.

Search specialists have said that secondary results should fall under brand-bidding restrictions and that all this has done is create a secondary monetisation tier for Google.

Richard Gregory, COO of Latitude and co-chair of search association Sempo UK, said, “[Google] has absolutely crossed the line because it’s so blatantly about commercialisation and not user experience.”

Sites that the search box does not appear for include Amazon, the BBC, Debenhams and MySpace.

Will Cooper, NMA, 27th March 2008