January 10, 2005

Web searches that wrongly implied that Kraft Foods was an alleged sponsor of a white supremacist website flagged important alarm signals recently about the potential risks of certain online advertising mediums.

The operators of whiterevolution.com included a free search-engine feature from Google Inc. on their Web site that late last year generated results making it appear Kraft was an advertising sponsor.

Kraft executives were alarmed when they were alerted last month by a Connecticut newspaper reporter who had discovered the problem. The Northfield, Ill., food giant wants to be known for peddling its cookies and macaroni and cheese, not hate.

Leasing links to your website will boost your search engine visibility

Technicians for Google, the California Internet search engine and advertising company, quickly disabled the use of their technology on the whiterevolution.com site after Kraft raised objections, said Donna Sitkiewicz, a spokeswoman in Kraft’s Illinois headquarters.

The experience, however, raised concerns at Kraft - and should raise awareness for other online advertisers, both large and small - about the possibilities of Internet ads improperly dragging a company’s good name through pornographic, hate-group or other Web sites.

“We want to make sure we are protecting our brand and the trust that consumers place in us,” Sitkiewicz said. “Kraft is a company with a history based on integrity, quality and serving families.”

Kraft’s troubling experience is unusual, but one that other companies could face as online advertising booms and the proliferation of search-engine technology such as Google’s spreads to every nook and cranny on the World Wide Web.

Online advertising already is a huge market measured in the billions of dollars.

One segment of online advertising known as paid search is growing faster than any other, according to technology consulting firm JupiterResearch. The New York company projects that the $2.6 billion spent on ads linked to Internet searches in 2004 will more than double, to $5.5 billion, in 2009.

“It’s growing at a phenomenal rate,” said Andy Beal, vice president of search marketing for WebSourced Inc., an online advertising consultant in North Carolina who works with clients such as Motorola Inc. and NBC.

Many companies offer this type of advertising, though Internet search services offered by Google and Yahoo are some of the most prominent.

Here's how it works -- An advertiser informs the search company that they want an ad displayed anytime an Internet user types in a specific term. Kraft, for example, often buys terms related to various holidays and food. A computer company might pay for the term “desktop computer.”

How prominent the advertiser’s ad is displayed depends largely on how they fare in an auction of sorts.

When identifying specific search words in which it is interested, the advertiser must indicate how much it is willing to pay each time someone clicks on one of their ads.

“Typically, anybody who pays the most gets better placement on the search engines,” Beal said.

Increase your site traffic with a paid inclusion program

Kraft ran into a problem because of another service offered by Google.

Using something called Google Free Web search, other Web site operators can copy and paste computer code that will place a Google search engine on their site.

This is what the operators of whiterevolution.com are believed to have done, said Kraft’s Sitkiewicz.

When people visited the whiterevolution.com Web site and, using the Google search function included on that Web site, happened to type terms that Kraft had purchased, Kraft was listed as a “sponsored ad link” next to the search results.

Kraft often purchases ads for the names of holidays to direct consumers to Kraft Web sites showing recipes or food that might be used for festive occasions.

Tom Giordano, a Milford, Conn., freelance reporter, typed in the search term “Halloween” on the whiterevolution.com Web site and found Kraft and other companies listed as advertising sponsors.

Local residents who had found some fliers around town with information about the whiterevolution.com Web site brought them into the offices of Hometown Publications Inc., a Journal Communications Inc. unit that publishes a group of community newspapers. Journal Communications also publishes the Journal Sentinel.

“It didn’t make sense that companies like Kraft or whoever would appear,” Giordano said.

Kraft executives agreed. Google has rules prohibiting the use of its Free Web search technology on any site containing pornographic, hate-related, violent or any other content that could hurt Google’s reputation.

Although Beal and other Internet advertising consultants advise clients about these possibilities, they also encourage them to consider the extent of the risk.

“It is not epidemic proportions, by any means,” Beal said. This type of Internet advertising can be particularly effective and cost a lot less than other approaches, Beal said.

Acquiring a new customer through direct mail can cost as much as $9 to $10 each, Beal said. Some of these paid search techniques can cost less than 50 cents each.

“You can get targeted customers in front of the business at a point they are interested in buying a product or service for 50 cents,” Beal said.

Paid search advertising has not been widely embraced by local companies in the Milwaukee area, but it is drawing rising interest, said Erin Reising, director of business development for Trivera, a Germantown technology company specializing in e-mail and search-engine marketing campaigns.

“Finally, everybody is waking up to it,” Reising said.

Source: JS Online

        

Read Serge Thibodeau's daily blogs on search engines at Serge Thibodeau Live. We strongly suggest you bookmark our web site by clicking here.

Get your business or company listed in the Global Business Listing directory and increase your business. It takes less then 24 hours to get a premium listing in the most powerful business search engine there is. Click here to find out all about it.

Rank for $ales strongly recommends the use of WordTracker to effectively identify all your right industry keywords. Accurate identification of the right keywords and key phrases used in your industry is the first basic step in any serious search engine optimization program. Click here to start your keyword and key phrase research.

You can link to the Rank for Sales web site as much as you like. Read our section on how your company can participate in our reciprocal link exchange program and increase your rankings in all the major search engines such as Google, AltaVista, Yahoo and all the others.

Call Rank for Sales toll free from anywhere in the US or Canada:   1-800-631-3221
email:   info@rankforsales.com

| Home | SEO Tips | SEO Myths | FAQ | SEO News | Articles | Sitemap | Contact |

---

Copyright © Rank for Sales 2003    Terms of use    Privacy agreement    Legal disclaimer

       Ce site est disponible en Français