Comments on: Is Yahoo Selling Out?

By: Aditya

Aditya — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:48:19 +0000

Yahoo is a big organisation

Lets see i dont think they gonna sell themself to anyone

still yahoo is no.1 site in the world

By: Kevin Taylor

Kevin Taylor — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:34:36 +0000

I’ve not seen this in the UK yet, are Yahoo planning to role this out in all countries? Pretty poor show and not something I’m in favour of seeing.
Kevin Taylor
Gravytrain Limited

By: Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:06:11 +0000

P.S. Rand, you’re going to get an earful from me tomorrow..

By: Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:04:50 +0000

The links in Google’s flight OneBox were chosen for merit. They’re not paid in any way and no money changed hands. So this is completely different than Yahoo’s paid-but-unlabeled Special K promotion.

(Added to your other post as well.)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:17:49 +0000

Is Yahoo Selling Out?…

Yahoo is showing advertisements without designating the listing as a paid link….

By: Gary Pool

Gary Pool — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:15:04 +0000

Scott, I enjoyed your post. I had noticed this sort of thing happening at Google since just before they went public. I just figured this was the way the giants did these things. I guess the bidding can be closed if you throw enough money at the auctioneer. I never thought it was fair just the way it is.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:29:35 +0000

Wow, you're right Rand... I've never seen that before! This search shows Google doing the same thing, and not all that much quieter. I suppose the font is a little different... Is that enough to meet meet the Webmaster guidelines for disclosing paid links?

I definitely see this falling under the banner of "full disclosure". Google and Yahoo are both appear to be selling links in their serps, as far as the end user can tell.

By: randfish

randfish — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:48:17 +0000

Nice catch, Scott. Google does the same thing, a little quieter, for travel searches – try Seattle to Denver, for example. Those 4 folks listed have some paid relationships

By: Robert Frost

Robert Frost — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:51:13 +0000

VERY interesting. I noticed this post referenced over on Search Engine Land today.

By: Kent Schnepp

Kent Schnepp — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:22:25 +0000

Scott -

Good catch! I have seen similar results from Yahoo! Shortcuts but nothing this commercial, and nothing with a logo. Usually it’s just links to promotions and Yahoo! related products.