Submission + - How Google uses Chrome to boost ad revenue
Animats writes: Harvard Business School professor Benjamin Edelman has published a paper, How Google and Its Partners Inflate Measured Conversion Rates and Increase Advertiser Costs. The trick is that Google has interactive URL completion in its URL input box, but, unlike Firefox, interactive completion doesn't take you to the real URL. It takes you through Google Search, and through Google's pay-per-click system.
As an example, Edelman typed "expedia" into Chrome. "Expedia.com" appears as a suggestion, and pressing "Enter" accepts that default. But that doesn't take you to Expedia.com directly. There's a side trip through Google Search and a Google ad. The advertiser is then charged for an unnecessary ad click.
As Edelman puts it, "As users type web addresses into Google's Chrome web browser, Chrome's "Omnibox" address bar suggests that users run searches instead of direct navigation. If a user accepts Chrome's suggestion — the user is taken to a page of Google search results for the specified term. ... As usual, Google's most prominent search result is an advertisement. If the user clicks the ad, the advertiser pays a pay-per-click fee — even though the user was nearly at the advertiser's site, for free, before Chrome interceded with its 'Search for...' suggestion.
As an example, Edelman typed "expedia" into Chrome. "Expedia.com" appears as a suggestion, and pressing "Enter" accepts that default. But that doesn't take you to Expedia.com directly. There's a side trip through Google Search and a Google ad. The advertiser is then charged for an unnecessary ad click.
As Edelman puts it, "As users type web addresses into Google's Chrome web browser, Chrome's "Omnibox" address bar suggests that users run searches instead of direct navigation. If a user accepts Chrome's suggestion — the user is taken to a page of Google search results for the specified term.
