BP buys first place in Google results

[underpants]

Source: MSNBC

The company responsible for the worst oil spill in U.S. history took the high road when faced with the increasingly popular and brutally hilarious fake Twitter account @BPGlobalPR … or so it seemed.

This, industry observers agreed, was the best course of action for the company. “The PR department at BP's job is to describe — accurately — what they are doing,” Ad Age’s Josh Bernoff wrote in a recent column. “Any attempts to spin are pointless and will backfire.”

Turns out, BP is attempting to spin its story in a far more proactive and decidedly modern way. The company may be spending up to $10,000 a day to pay for “oil” search terms that redirect Google, Yahoo and Bing Web search users to the company’s official website, according to ABC News.


Currently, searches via these engines for terms such as “gulf spill,” “oil” or “oil spill,” return a sponsored link to BP’s official website at the top of the list with the text, “Info about the Gulf of Mexico Spill Learn More about How BP is Helping.”



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37574169/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets

---

A quick review of blog headlines covering BP’s attempt at cleaning up the Web reveals just how well this latest news spill is working out for the company. For example:

“BP Buys Up Search Phrases To Keep You From Snooping On Its Heroic Clean-Up Efforts” — The Consumerist
“BP Using Google To Manipulate Public Opinion” — The Huffington Post
“BP buys Google, Yahoo search words to keep people away from real news on Gulf oil spill disaster” — Political Spin Examiner

[Hawkeye-X]

1. All BP is doing is wasting money

on "sponsored" links which I frequently ignore.

[RKP5637]

3. Same here, I can't imagine looking at a BP "sponsored" link for info. n/t

[Jamastiene]

2. I've started using Penthius lately.

It works. http://www.penthius.info/results.html?cx=partner-pub-2333154561802197%3A3pszlbe1601&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=oil+spil&sa=Search&siteurl=www.penthius.info%2F#1148

It works about as good as the others and shows lots of news not "controlled" by BP.

[sce56]

6. Ah the Ghost Whisperer search engine

I've been to the Emmy's because of that show!
My Favorite show I hope ABC picks it up.

[Jamastiene]

7. I do too.

I loved that show. Last I heard, ABC has the rights, but isn't planning on picking it up. Now, I'm hoping for SyFy to pick it up. I'd actually get SyFy if they would pick it up.

[quakerboy]

4. Do they pay by the click?

Cause my clicky finger works purdy good. I keep it well practiced.

[Alcibiades]

5. "Do no evil" my ass!

"Advertising on Google is always clearly identified as a "Sponsored Link," so it does not compromise the integrity of our search results. We never manipulate rankings to put our partners higher in our search results and no one can buy better PageRank. Our users trust our objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust."

So much for the integrity of search results.

[James48]

8. BP= BEYOND PALE. n/t