Google has been making a lot of noise this year about stopping the trade in text links but today they seem to have finally made a real stand.
A search for “text link ads” displays no Adwords adverts today and the same is true for “text links” and all the related phrases I tried.
This is the first time that Google has actually taken a stand that makes them lose money in their war against text links and I think it is a good move. There is nothing more hypocritical than Google starting a war against a certain industry on one hand and accepting money from them on the other.
In my opinion Google is still being harsh giving some text link sellers a penalty (search for “Text Link Ads”) while letting their competitors rank highly for some lucrative phrases.
But they are still allowing misspellings to trigger ads.
Text L ink Ads http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Text+L+ink+Ads
Great move by Google. They really do need to continue to “put their foot down” on these sort of matters. Although I think this is 1 good move by Google, there are many more that need to happen.
Thanks for the great post, but I think you’re looking at this the wrong way.
Here’s a post I did on our company blog with my perspective.
http://www.doneseo.com/blog/google-bans-their-competitors-from-advertising-through-adwords/