Amazon is doing something to the Google search results page, and it's easy to see it with your own eyes.
This picture shows Amazon's logo on the company's premises in Brandizzo, near Turin, March 22, 2021.
Just go to Google right now, and type the name of any product you can think of, say, "toothpaste." You'll see in the search results a lot of listings for popular brands such as Colgate or Sensodyne. And if you look a bit closer, you'll see that those listings are tagged as "sponsored."
That's because Amazon has been pushing more and more ads to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) recently, according to CNBC. And they're making so much money out of that, because being promoted at the top of the page comes with a very hefty price tag.
Some users are even saying that these Amazon ads are almost dominating the results pages, it's actually tough to find anything organic within the first couple of pages.
Advertising expert Jason Goldberg from the firm Publicis said that there's so few organic results on the page because of Amazon ads, meaning the only way to get to the top is to buy your place on it.
Amazon has always put up ads on the topmost spots of search engine results for so long.
But it's not until now that they've seemingly put more than three sponsored products--in fact, there's now an alleged average of six ads there, reports Marketplace Pulse, an e-commerce research firm.
Many experts are now saying that with these efforts, Amazon is trying to capitalize on its overall control of the market.
They believe that the company is well-aware that most people on the web will go to their site for their online shopping needs, especially during this pandemic when it's still far too dangerous to shop out.
Read also: Amazon Blocks Google's 'Controversial Cookieless Tracking' FLoC
Amazon's Sky-High Ad Revenues At A Glance
To say that Amazon has made a killing in their ad schemes is an insane understatement.
Advertising is much like paying for concert or sports event tickets: the closer you want to be to the action, the more money you'll have to pay.
Believe it or not, a lot of brands would be willing to pay exorbitant sums just to get their sponsored listings on the top of Google search results. And it has turned out to be extremely lucrative for Amazon.
According to AdExchanger, while advertising across the web took a big hit during Q2 of last year, Amazon's ad empire increased by over $1 billion regardless.
In this photograph taken on November 18, 2020 in Lille, a person poses with a smartphone showing an Amazon logo, in front of a computer screen displaying the home page of Amazon France sales website.
This has now led to the online retail giant's advertising revenues to go past $7 billion, with barely any signs of slowing down.
Other Big Tech companies' ad profits pale in comparison to how much Amazon has earned. For instance, Twitter and LinkedIn only reached over $3 billion each last year; Snapchat banked $2.5 billion, and Pinterest at a relatively paltry $1.7 billion.
All of these are annual earnings, compared to Amazon's quarterly numbers.
Perhaps this will now play a part in Jeff Bezos' proclamation of support for higher tax rates on his company.
Related: Amazon, Google, and Apple to Pay Wikipedia For Their Published Contents in the Future
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Written by RJ Pierce
