There was an interesting story in Friday’s Financial Times about a lawsuit against Google in Australia by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The case, brought in federal court in Sydney, was prompted by adverts that were placed on Google by Trading Post Australia, an automotive dealer also named in the suit.
The regulatory body said that, among other things, it was seeking an order “restraining Google from publishing search results that do not expressly distinguish advertisements from organic search results”.
The issue of advertisements being unclear from organic results has been passionately debated from time to time. This is the last study I’ve seen on the issue.
Time will tell how this turns out.
The issue of an “organic” vs. paid search result has been going on for a while. The issue is that even if you tell the two apart (lime green text perhaps?) some people will still ignore the differentiations and not even notice them. This issue will be be around for a while.
mp/m