Comments on: Guardian was wrong to buy Madeleine McCann keywords on Google

By: Laura Oliver

Laura Oliver — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:37:17 +0000

@Andy that’s a good point – there’s definitely a case for the search engine taking some responsibility. It’d be interesting to know if there are ethical guidelines within the automated process of selling keywords.

@Adwords the issue is the emotive nature of the keyword. I think Marc Sands explained the benefits of PPC advertising well, but he also agreed that there were certain times when this method was not appropriate.

By: Pages tagged "journalism"

Pages tagged "journalism" — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:34:33 +0000

[...] bookmarks tagged journalism [J.co.uk] Guardian was wrong to buy Madeleine McCa… saved by 3 others fatalscorpion bookmarked on 08/09/08 | [...]

By: Adwords Guide

Adwords Guide — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:22:54 +0000

Not sure what all the fuss is about. Pay per click advertising is a legitimate method of putting your stories or message out there. As has been mentioned above, the sponsored ads are only displayed on search engine results pages for search queries relevant to the ads keywords

If the Guardian or any other website has the funds to spend, and this is a totally legal advertising method, then i am not sure what the problem is.

If the issue was because the subject is an emotive one ie the mccann kidnap, then that is another thing. But to criticize PPC advertising does not really make sense to me

http://www.affiliatemarketingintro.com/Google-Adwords.html

By: Andy Mabbett

Andy Mabbett — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:09:30 +0000

The fault, of any, lies not with Guardian, for purchasing the keywords, but with Google, for selling them.

Should such an unhappy case occur again, perhaps Google could donate the keywords to a suitable “lost-children” appeal website?