InsideGoogle

Google Decorates Its Ads For The Holidays, Again

For the second year in a row, Google has added a vertical row of tiny imags next to its AdWords ads on Google search, in order to commemorate the holidays. Run a search on Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, and you’ll get a little treat on the right (Christmas trees for Christmas, white candles for Hanukkah, and green, black and red candles for Kwanzaa). Google did this last year, as well, although included Christmas lights then, but not this time around.
(via Ionut. Alex)

Philipp points out the irony of Google doing this, when they recently issued a ruling to AdSense publishers not to put images next to their ads. Of course, Google’s version would be okay, even under the AdSense terms of service and the new ruling, whereas what some AdSense publishers do to fool users into clicking their ads is far worse. Have you ever seen a list of items, and the first one is an ad, designed to look like it is part of the list? Sometimes you can take blending a little too far.

UPDATE: Totally forgot to mention, but there’s also a holiday Google Doodle:

UPDATE 2: Apparently, this logo is part of Google Doodle 12, an occasion where Google does a series of Doodle logos, all on a common theme, sometimes telling a story. Keep reading for updates on the next Doodles in the series. Thanks to Barry at SEL for noticing.

December 21st, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Culture, Doodles, AdSense, AdWords, Advertising, General | 4 comments