Google: No Sponsored Links for Don Imus?

Rebecca Lieb | April 13, 2007 | 0 comments

CNBC invited me on last night to discuss the Don Imus brouhaha. I was at Search Engine Strategies when they called, where someone pointed out that yesterday, shortly after Imus was fired from CBS for his very reprehensible remark, all the sponsored links disappeared from Google's results page for a "don imus" search.

Yahoo and MSN were still running paid ads yesterday.

Today, ads are running on Google again for a search against the unemployed DJ's name, but only two. Houghton Mifflin is promoting a book, "The N Word," by Jabari Asim. AOL property TMZ.com's ads point to ongoing coverage of the story.

Both the above ads can only be post-scandal media buys. MSN and Yahoo, in contrast, are running a grab-bag of legacy paid search ads that link to eBay, Shopzilla, www.bearadiohost.com, and trivia quizzes.

Haven't had a chance to verify this, but it certainly appears as if Google took a rapid and decisive step to un-associate their advertisers from the search term in the wake of the firing (and advertisers such as Verizon and American Express dropping their sponsorship of the show). Yahoo and MSN didn't do anything.

Who was right? I'd love feedback from anyone whose ad was turned off by Google.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca was previously VP, U.S. operations of Econsultancy, an independent source of advice and insight on digital marketing and e-commerce. Earlier, she held executive marketing and communications positions at strategic e-services companies, including Siegel & Gale, and has worked in the same capacity for global entertainment and media companies, including Universal Television & Networks Group (formerly USA Networks International) and Bertelsmann's RTL Television. As a journalist, she's written on media for numerous publications, including "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal." Rebecca spent five years as Variety's Berlin-based German/Eastern European bureau chief. Rebecca also taught at New York University's Center for Publishing, where she also served on the Electronic Publishing Advisory Group. Rebecca, author of "The Truth About Search Engine Optimization," was ClickZ's editor-in-chief for over seven years.