The effect was not unlike spitting into the ocean. After a series of studies looking into search engines' paid inclusion and paid placement disclosure practices and a string of FTC recommendations, a follow-up study shows that little has been done.
Here are the key findings of the study: With only three exceptions (Yahoo, AOL and Lycos), all search engines tested used tiny and faint fonts - such as light gray - for hyperlinks to disclosure pages. Many disclosure statements about paid placement and paid inclusion were unclear, written in legalese and almost seemed to discourage reading. Criticized a year ago for their collective lack of disclosure, meta-search engines have largely improved. Two engines tested (CNET's Search.com and Web Search) have substantially enhanced their disclosure of both paid placement and paid inclusion, although one, InfoSpace, has become worse. Since the release of the November 2004 study, two of the top five most-trafficked engines - MSN and Ask Jeeves - have removed paid inclusion advertising. However, among the other nine engines that use paid inclusion, the practice is rarely disclosed. Having never used paid inclusion, Google clearly labels and separates sponsored links from search results, although links to disclosure statements are difficult to find. "Our previous studies have shown that 60 percent of consumers surveyed did not know that search engine results included paid advertisements along with non-paid results, and when they found out the truth, they were angry," said Jrgen Wouters, "Search engines need to understand that these practices and omissions, when exposed, matter to consumers - their customers." Consumer Reports WebWatch, a project of Consumers Union, is a non-profit investigative project that monitors trust and credibility in the online marketplace. WebWatch's investigative reports, articles and news are available at here.Search Engines Ignore Ad Disclosure Recommendations
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