AOL Content Gets Ratings Boost in Google

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!

Now I certainly hope this is a case of the reporter misunderstanding the facts, because if it’s not this one may be the tipping point with everybody’s love affair with Google. Check out this report from the New York Times

Finally, around 9 p.m., Richard D. Parsons, chief executive of Time Warner told Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, that he would accept Google’s recently sweetened offer. Google, which prides itself on the purity of its search results, agreed to give favored placement to content from AOL throughout its site, something it has never done before.

So is AOL content going to get a magical behind the scenes boost in organic listings at Google (something we’ve all been told wasn’t possible)? Is AOL placement going to displace or intermix with PPC listings? That explanation is pretty vague but rather disconcerting to to everyone except Jason Calacanis who just sold Weblogs Inc to AOL.

One Response to “AOL Content Gets Ratings Boost in Google”

1. Andrew Johnson Says:
   December 17th, 2005 at 4:34 pm

   From the NYTimes:
   http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/technology/17aol.html?ei=5090&en=159839bd461e22fa&ex=1292475600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

   “If a user searches on Google for a topic for which AOL has content - like information about Madonna - there will be a special section on the bottom right corner of the search results page with links to AOL.com. Technically, AOL will pay for those links, which will be identified as advertising, but Google will give AOL credits to pay for them as part of the deal. They will also carry AOL’s logo, the first time Google has agreed to place graphic ads on its search result pages.”

   Good thing thats the bottom and not the top.