Recently Google added a "Tip" section to some search results that point back to its products. Here's an example of a search I did this morning for "blog books", for instance.

The Tip section appears just below the topmost sponsored link and just above the search results. In this case, Google recommends checking out their blogging service Blogger.
To me this is no more than an ad, with a little different layout and a position favorable to Google. What's particularly interesting in the search I did is that of the top 3 items listed in the search results, three are ads for Google products.
At the top is an ad for Google's BookSearch. This is a standard Google ad. It appears as a text ad and is no different than any other ad someone might place. Below this, is the Google "tip." Despite the term "Tip", this is clearly another ad, this time to Google's own Blogger. And finally, Google lists three books in its "Book Search" that it supposedly recommends for the search term "blog books."
Seems to me like Google is going overboard recommending itself.
One key problem that arises here is the trust issue. With the sponsored link, it's quite obvious that the listing is an ad. I know what trust I can put with this ad. Next up though is the Tip ad to Blogger. This is really an ad, but it doesn't look like one. I don't mind Google promoting its own products, but doing so gives my skepticism a boost. And here's the problem as I see it. I can ignore all the Tips as mere ads. But now it makes me skeptical of Google's next returned items, the Book Search results. Should I trust them too? Hmmm. That's the trap that Google's walking into here.


Incremental Blogger