Comments on: Is Google Intentionally Trying to Minimize the Fact that These are Ads?

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:59:37 +0000

Hi Mike,
I agree completely with this complaint.
FYI, I added a chrome add-on called “stylish” which allowed me to change the user stylesheet associated with the internet. In it I added a style which I named “make ads more obvious” and in it I added the css code “#tads { background-color:orange;}. Now the ads are very orange and obvious. I think there are other ways to do it on IE or the others. The css code selects the element with all the ads (#tads) in it and overwrites the background-color to be whatever you want.
Best, Keith.

By: earlpearl

earlpearl — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:58:18 +0000

This morning I had a laptop screen on and there was not color/shading distinction at all between ads and organic results. NONE.

About one half later I turned it on again…and there was a faint distinction, versus a significant distinction at other times on that laptop.

I’d say we are all guinea pigs in the world’s largest data collection experiment on user behavior.

Its all done without our acknowledgement and basically without our knowledge. The only people who know about it is google.

I suspect they share it with very very large advertisers.

The world is google’s lab and the rest of the world is pretty much in the dark about it. tsk tsk

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:59:33 +0000

@Bob

After several attempts at calibration I finally found a combination that works. It uses unusual settings and my take away was that most Mac users with 3rd party monitors would be likely to experience this issue.

It required that I turn the contrast and brightness up to 100% (that’s not unusual) but it also required that I use the built in Mac calibration tool and set the color temperature to 9500k and set the gamma at the PC setting. That is not a normal Mac setting, is never the default and and it is at the very blue white end of the color spectrum. Thus it is likely that any Mac users would not be aware that they would need to set the Kelvin temperature that high.

By: Ed Barnat

Ed Barnat — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:54:24 +0000

Because when you can’t see the yellow, that small disclaimer, if seen, could look like it is related to the line of ads running down the right hand side of the page?

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:54:09 +0000

@Chris

You could have avoided tilting the clients monitor by pointing out the blurb that says, “Ads – Why these ads?”

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:32:09 +0000

Just last week I was sitting with a client showing him his website at position 1. Felt a little lame demonstrating that it was actually in fact halfway down the page, only just above the fold on his PC screen. ‘well how can you tell that those are ads he said?’. Obvious to me, not so to him. I tilted his monitor and explained that they have a yellow tinge to them…

By: Ed Barnat

Ed Barnat — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:26:07 +0000

That could also explain why I am having a hard time seeing it as well. I have “tweaked” all my monitors (4) for photos.

Maybe it is not my eyes (or my mind) after all

By: Mat Bennett

Mat Bennett — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:21:57 +0000

This isn’t a symptom of bad monitors as some are suggesting. It is down to how monitors are set up.

On my desk I have 2 identical monitors configured add dual screen. Both are reasonable mid range affairs. One of them I have calibrated as I use it for photo editing. It could be said that this is the one that is correctly configured.

Google as highlighting is practically invisible on the “corrected” monitor.

By: earlpearl

earlpearl — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:48:53 +0000

@Mike:

From my perspective, seeing a search which generates Google Places information, as shown in those express ads…but without a Map is entirely disquieting…and I feel like a trained lab rat.

Google got me familiar with the Maps/Presentation but now doesn’t show the map.

Its a sneaky….malicious move to try and force me into clicking on the enticing maps info. If I were an advertiser without the Maps data showing I’d be screaming bloody murder.

if i were a website with an organic result I’d be screaming bloody murder..and as a consumer/user…I now feel manipulated by Google.

This is an ugly result……G Maps stuff on the page…and no Map

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:49:29 +0000

@Earl

That is new. They have stopped showing as many PLaces results and this one is a clear case where the advertisers AND Google think it is a local search and they should.