Google Ron Paul - 1st thing to come up is Mitt Romney

Funny thing, when I clicked on this post the first thing to pop up at the top of the page was a Mitt ad. Darn you ATS and your slanted ways!!!

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


No sir, I was not seeing any pink box. It was coming up as the very first result, but like I said, I do not see any sign of it now at all.

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


That is odd. How does one do "private browsing"? I can see if it pops up for me doing it that way.

I'm in NY and when I typed it into google I got Ron Paul Google+ and then a bunch of news articles about him and ronpaul2012.com. Try clearing your cookies?

Originally posted by sageofmonticello
reply to post by MrWendal

 

As much as I hate to agree with OutKast Searcher....

I am sorry but it is absolutely an ad.

It has a pink background and to the top right of it it says "Ad" It is the first result and that is where the ads ususally go though google does change it from search to search. I have used adsense and adwords since the day they came out and know a google ad when I see one. Still a dirty trick but it is the Mitt Romney camp that pulled this one, not google.

ETA: As far as the ad not showing on a later search, google ads are dynamic. sometimes they change position, sometimes the budget set for the ad is reached and sometimes other advertising outbid for the top position. This all happens in real-time.

edit on 25-1-2012 by sageofmonticello because: (no reason given)

Quite correct you are. Romney either PAID for Google ad, or Google is supporting Romney. All Google has to do is some behind the scenes variable manipulation and wellah.....good old Romney. They aren't attaching the ads to the lesser opponents because they aren't a threat.

reply to post by Odyssevs


same as here in the uk.
nothing to do with Mit romney.
Maybe its only google.com???

Google searches are different for different people. As i tend to read more liberal media and sources, this will be reflected in my search results. Like wise if you tend to follow the opposite or other media out there.

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


weird I noticed that too, I went incognito (google chrome) and saw the ad.

reply to post by Irish614


I do not use google chrome. Is there any way I can set up for private browsing so I can see what happens?

I really think this is an ad-words thing. I think the Romney campaign bought "Ron Paul" as keywords.

I also get the Mitt add first in the list but the first choices in a search are advertisements, not true search results.

I currently do not have a Google account and have cookies disabled in Opera and even if I try to change options, Google says I can't because it's "not currently tracking search activity in this browser." Which tells me that it's strictly advertising and not any type of custom tailored search at all.

reply to post by MrWendal


The pink box is very hard to see. If you are not viewing it at just the right angle it will appear white. they do this so that people are not immediately aware that they are viewing an advertisement. They don't want you to just ignore it by making it look too different from there normal search results.

If what you saw wasn't an ad it would seem this problem is localized to just your computer as even the OP stated that it was an advertisement. These ads are designed to fool people into thinking they are search results. That is the entire appeal of the ad to advertisers as the most common clicked on search result is the first search result. If they make it look too much like an ad it would be to easy to notice and people would put up blinders and just skip over it completely thus ruining any reason to buy the ad in the first place and ridding google of its number one money maker.

When I google Ron Paul---Ron Paul comes out not mit...Im in Illinois, USA

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Originally posted by sageofmonticello
reply to post by MrWendal

 

The pink box is very hard to see. If you are not viewing it at just the right angle it will appear white. they do this so that people are not immediately aware that they are viewing an advertisement. They don't want you to just ignore it by making it look too different from there normal search results.

If what you saw wasn't an ad it would seem this problem is localized to just your computer as even the OP stated that it was an advertisement. These ads are designed to fool people into thinking they are search results. That is the entire appeal of the ad to advertisers as the most common clicked on search result is the first search result. If they make it look too much like an ad it would be to easy to notice and people would put up blinders and just skip over it completely thus ruining any reason to buy the ad in the first place.

edit on 25-1-2012 by sageofmonticello because: (no reason given)

This sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation to me. I saw no pink box, but I do understand how colors on my screen works and at other times I know the angle I have my screen does make a difference.

That being said, if anyone can tell me how to do "private browsing" I would love to try it and see what happens.

Hello, I was following this conversation and decided to chip in with a prntscreen capture of the Ron Paul google search. I am from the US and it seems clear this is an ad. It is true that the box surrounding the Romney part is a slightly different color, I turned off my light to see it better. Anyways I would keep clicking it in hopes of charging more for ad money, but id bet they probably have a sweet deal with google where that doesnt matter, who knows though. Here is the picture

Edit: In addition I have cleared all history (firefox) including cookies and whatnot and it made no difference.

reply to post by MrWendal

That being said, if anyone can tell me how to do "private browsing" I would love to try it and see what happens.

If you go to google.com and look at the top right of the screen you will see a gear. Click on the gear and then go to search settings. then click on "do not use personalized results" not exactly private browsing but it doesn't skew your results based on your searches that way.

ETA: sorry, it seems that only works if you have an account with google. you would have to sign in first.

reply to post by tehdouglas


That's weird...I don't get that little box at the top.

All I see is the news feed and then the rest is ron paul stuff.

reply to post by tehdouglas


Yep

That is exactly what I am seeing as well.

reply to post by MrWendal


Mine wasn't in a pink box either...it was kind of a beige box...hardly noticable.

Originally posted by MrWendal
reply to post by OutKast Searcher

 

That is odd. How does one do "private browsing"? I can see if it pops up for me doing it that way.

If you are using Internet Explorer...go to "Tools" and then "InPrivate Browsing". It will open a new window, go to google and search Ron Paul.

If you are using FireFox...go to "Tools" and then to "Start Private Browsing"

Originally posted by tehdouglas
Hello, I was following this conversation and decided to chip in with a prntscreen capture of the Ron Paul google search. I am from the US and it seems clear this is an ad. It is true that the box surrounding the Romney part is a slightly different color, I turned off my light to see it better. Anyways I would keep clicking it in hopes of charging more for ad money, but id bet they probably have a sweet deal with google where that doesnt matter, who knows though. Here is the picture

Edit: In addition I have cleared all history (firefox) including cookies and whatnot and it made no difference.

edit on 25-1-2012 by tehdouglas because: (no reason given)

This is very very close to what I was seeing, but in your screen shot I can see the very slight change in color that I did not see on mine, however that could simply be from the angle of my screen. As your screen shot shows, it is obviously not a very bold difference. I also do not recall seeing the "why this ad?" link in the top right. I am not going to say it was not there.. I am simply saying I do not recall seeing one.