Are Ask Sponsored Results Deceptive?
Look close, do you see the light blue back ground behind the Ask Sponsored Results text? Well I just had my eyes checked today and have 20/20 vision, but looking at my notebook screen from various reasonable angles the blue (or is it green?) background is next to invisible.
I believe this hidden background along with the diminutive Sponsored Results text label is likely to increase the click through rate of the sponsored listings and Ask’s income. This would be good for the advertiser since ads should be relevant and traffic still converting, but it’s a bit deceiving for the average search user and most likely hurting the organic results click through rate.
Ask does one other thing I think is a bit sneaky. The Sponsored Results text label in the upper right corner will click through to the sponsor’s site who is in the number one paid position. If you ask me, I would click on this text thinking I would get an explanation of what Sponsored Results are, not a sponsor’s site. I would not want to be charged for those clicks if I was in the number one sponsor spot. Yahoo actually does click you through to an explanation of what sponsored results are. Neither Google nor Live have their sponsored text label linked, but Live is close to doing that with the very near surrounding area clicking through to the sponsored listings.
Ask also has all open space with the sponsor background color click through to the sponsor sites. Live does this as well. To me this seems like they are trying to collect a few extra unintentional clicks. Neither Ask nor Live have the open space next to organic results click through, just the blue underlined titles. Google only has the blue underlined titles linked for sponsored and organic results, Yahoo has all sponsored text (blue underlined titles and description) as a link but only blue and underlined titles click through in the organic results.
So you tell me, do you think these tactics are a bit disingenuous?
October 11th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Very nice little bit of investigating. I know that I’ve seen things like this that have made me think to myself “hmmm… that’s kind of sneaky of them.” Not these observations specifically, but now that you bring this to my attention, I’m going to be more conscious of it.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Thanks for stopping by John. Yeah, it’s interesting how sneaky little tactics can be right in front of our eyes and we don’t even notice.
December 21st, 2007 at 8:44 am
I’m just not seeing it – meaning, I’m on a laptop and I can see the blue just fine. It’s definitely lighter thought, but I don’t think it’s too deceptive. I also did a search on Ask.com and I was able to easily distinguish between their ads and natural search results.
I’m not discounting what you’re saying, but it sounds like it may have more to do with the quality of your screen. And if they’re actually using the color and shade that they’re using because they’re aware of that issue, then yeah, kudos to you for calling them out
But aside from techie conspiracy theories, I would assume that their lightly shaded color actually strikes the perfect balance in readability while also showing that it’s a paid result. Interesting catch, either way.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:31 am
Hey Jon,
Thanks for your comment. My headline may be a bit strong but I do think Ask is on the light side so the ads don’t draw attention as sponsored results.
I’m pretty sure my lcd is fine, my laptop is quite new and I’ve looked at another screen to see if I was way off base.
I think the easiest way to tell is by comparing the backgrounds contrasts of the other search engine sponsored results. Ask is quite a bit lighter than the others.
I think this comes in to play more for the less experienced user or elderly. I do want to clarify that I like Ask and I don’t think this makes them evil.:) I just think they can do a better job here.
thanks again Jon!