Google Demotes Chrome in Rankings After Promotion Flap

January 04, 2012, 7:08 PM EST By Jordan Robertson

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. demoted its Chrome browser in Web-search rankings after an advertising effort for the tool ran afoul of its own rules governing paid promotions.

The company is “taking manual action to demote” Chrome and lower its ranking for at least 60 days, Mountain View, California-based Google said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

Google’s remarks came in response to blog posts that made favorable remarks about the Chrome browsing tool and said they were sponsored by Google, said Aaron Wall, founder of SEOBook.com, which trains marketers on how to improve search results. Google said it didn’t give a green light to the campaign, which it said stemmed from efforts to buy online ads.

“We have consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers to promote our products, because these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users,” Google said. “We’re now looking at what changes we need to make to ensure that this never happens again.”

Helping users distinguish between authentic endorsements and advertising is central to what search engines do, and Google has punished websites it accuses of manipulating results to present paid content as original thought.

“People were outraged and cursing about it,” Wall said of online discussion that began last week. “They were saying it was an insane double standard and crazy.”

Essence Digital, an Internet-advertising company that has worked with Google to promote Chrome, posted a statement online to offer “context on what happened.”

Essence Digital said that Google didn’t authorize a campaign to pay for sponsored blog posts. Google only agreed to buy online video ads, Essence Digital said. The company apologized to Google.

Matt Isaacs, CEO of Essence Digital, declined to elaborate.

--Editor: Tom Giles

To contact the reporter on this story: Jordan Robertson in San Francisco at jrobertson40@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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Senator Snowe Asks Amazon to Halt Price-Checking Promotion

December 09, 2011, 12:33 PM EST By Danielle Kucera

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. should end its price- checking promotion because it gives consumers an incentive to gather price data from small retailers and leave stores without spending money, said Senator Olympia Snowe.

The world’s largest online retailer is offering a 5 percent discount to entice users to try a new mobile application that compares prices with brick-and-mortar retailers. The app, called Price Check, allows shoppers to look up Amazon’s prices by scanning physical products at a store using their phones.

“Amazon’s promotion -- paying consumers to visit small businesses and leave empty-handed -- is an attack on Main Street businesses that employ workers in our communities,” Snowe, a Maine Republican, said in a statement yesterday. “Small businesses are fighting everyday to compete with giant retailers, such as Amazon, and incentivizing consumers to spy on local shops is a bridge too far.”

Amazon is aiming to draw more online purchases from the more than 95 percent of U.S. consumers who still shop in stores, ratcheting up rivalry with traditional retailers. The Seattle- based company estimates revenue to rise to $16.5 billion to $18.7 billion in the fourth quarter -- growth of 27 percent to 44 percent, respectively, compared with a year earlier.

Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Amazon, didn’t have an immediate comment.

Customers who download the app and enable the location feature will see the 5 percent discount, or as much as $5 off, on as many as three qualifying products, including electronics, toys, music, sporting goods and DVDs, the company said in a statement Dec. 6.

Amazon rose 0.9 percent to $192.23 at 11:44 a.m. in New York. The shares had gained 5.8 percent this year before today.

--Editors: James Callan, Niamh Ring

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Kucera in San Francisco at dkucera6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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