Comments on: Google Redesign or Stealthy Affiliate Program?

By: Philip

Philip — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hey, there’s no image in this article, what gives? First time I’ve seen that here at Mike Industries ;-)

Judging by the ‘Powered by’ image on that page you show, it would seem like option #1 is not correct, why would Google say they are powered by themselves, seems kinda demeaning of themselves. They may as well just say that they are the all powerful search engine.

I don’t like the idea of #2…

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Have you tried clicking the “What is this page?” link in the top right?

By: Peter Parkes

Peter Parkes — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well, it looks to me like an ‘AdSense for Search‘ page – in which case, I’m pretty sure you’re looking at #2.

I’m not sure, but wouldn’t you get the same ping result anyway – the AdSense and ‘normal’ versions of Google could well be on the same server, couldn’t they?

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I agree that #2 seems much more likely, and that yes, it’s potentially not good. But if it’s cool with Google, it seems like it certainly could generate some revenue for ISPs.

Anon: Yeah, I clicked the link and it explains something about AdSense, which seems very “affiliate-like”, but it also seems non-kosher because the page definitely does not explain that the ISP in this sort of agreement. Something about it just seems jimmy-rigged.

By: Peter Parkes

Peter Parkes — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Here's what the AdSense T&C have to say: ... all search queries (including queries entered into an Ad search box) must originate from individual human end users inputting data directly into a Search Box (or Ad search box, as applicable) on Your Site(s). They don't say anything about sneaky proxy redirects, but it looks to me like they're in breach of Google's rules.

By: Eric Schwarz

Eric Schwarz — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It’s an affiliate program…we have it too, and make money off of the AdSense for Search (not much).

I’m not sure why no image loaded nor why you got that to begin with…

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Eric: Good info. Interesting. So what are the ways in which someone can access your page? I mean, the only really weird part about the whole thing for me is that it comes up directly when I search through the front page of google.com and even in the built-in Safari search box. That is the part that seems stealthy to me.

By: Jeff Wheeler

Jeff Wheeler — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitely #2. Really weird though.

By: Collin

Collin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Certainly seems like something shadey going on there. What is odd is that the IP, you said, comes back as Googles IP. Does a traceroute shed any light perhaps? Hey, I just gave hacking Googles search page a shot and found it is VERY VERY easy to remove the top graphic and change the search page to leave off the "Search Domain.com" schwarztech.us hacked Google search Clicking this link will bring you to a page or search results. I bet even with the banner removed the Ad's still generate a penny or 2 for Eric. So the only thing I don't know is what they did to redirect people to their Google search results. Being so close to Mountain View, I would think a Google employee or 2 might have made it up there. They should be fired if they either don't notice or can't figure out what to do about it.

By: Mike Steinbaugh

Mike Steinbaugh — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I had that on my site for 30 minutes and decided that the positioning of the ads is just awful. Not many people click on ads in the search results anyway.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

From the “what is this page” link in the upper right hand corner of the page you posted —

“….or if you got to this page after doing a search on Google’s own site (www.google.com), please let us know. “

It would seem that they ARE certainly in violation of the rules.
I say report their ass.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Interesting, I can’t say that I think that it’s Google’s system unless it’s coming from a personalized version using the API.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This screenshoot in the tour pages looks somewhat like what you are getting. I say it seems pretty much google-oked.

By: Jasper

Jasper — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Perhaps it’s just some cleverness by the folks running the blog summit to point google.com at their affiliate search.

By: ConÃ¡nn

ConÃ¡nn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It’s definitely AdSense search, I use it here

I would be very surprised if Google was aware that they were redirecting, it makes no sense for Google to share the revenue on a search unless its searching your domain. Someones done a little wifi network hack to pass it through their domain.