5 troubling Second Search results

“Second Search” is a technique being tested by Google which allows searching a specific web site for content without leaving Google. It all sounds innocent, but businesses aren’t seeing it that way. Here’s a few examples which illustrate their worries:

Note: A few of the results I’ve described below are not consistently showing up – I’ll add screen shots to this post today or tomorrow.

Craigslist – Jobs

One of the very few things that Craigslist charges for is the placement of help wanted ads. They don’t do so across the board, just in select cities. Regardless, the performance that Craigslist gets from its help wanted ads is important them as a business. Here’s where Second Search gets in the way:

Google Second Search: “Jobs” – Competitors Google Presented:

Jobbing.com
Career Builder
The Ladders

HGTV – Mortgage Refinance

Home and Garden Television covers a variety of topics from working on a home you already own as well as the process of buying or selling a home. When a user searches on the word “mortgage” on their site, the page that is returned displays Google Ads for which HGTV generates some revenue (as does Google). Second search cuts to the chase, and cuts HGTV out.

Google Second Search: “mortgage refinance” – Competitor Ads Include:

Lending Tree
Countrywide
Quicken Loans
Ditech
Wachovia

Best Buy – Laptop

Best Buy sells just about anything electronic you can think of. One of the largest areas in their physical store is their computer section. Inside that section, laptops likely take the cake for showroom square footage. It’s safe to say Best Buy wants to sell laptops. Google’s Second Search provides consumers with some options Best Buy likely wouldn’t be a fan of:

Google Second Search: “laptop” – Some Competing Retailers Displayed:

Dell
Toshiba
NextTag
HP

Microsoft – Email Server

Microsoft’s Exchange mail server is popular. It also generates lots of money for Microsoft. It might surprise them that the ads displayed by Google’s Second Search on the term isn’t giving a nod to Exchange Server:

Google Second Search: “Email Server” – Non-Microsoft Exchange Alternatives in the Google Ads:

Google Business Email
IMail Server
Cold Spark

B&H Photo Video – Nikon D200

If you’ve shopped for camera or video camera equipment online, and missed B&H’s site you probably had to try. They sell just about anything you can think of. Example: Nikon’s D200 digital camera. The body runs about $1,300 dollars. Kits range from $1,600 up to over $2,000. B&H wants you to buy a Nikon D200 from them. Especially if you looked for their site first, and then searched on that item. Unfortunately, Google peppers the Second Search results page with an overwhelming amount of competition:

Google Second Search: “Nikon D200″ – A Sampling of Buying Alternatives in the Google Ads:

Abes of Maine
Broadway Photo
Ritz Camera
Amazon
BHPhotoVideo.com (adding insult to injury!)

Elsewhere on the web:

While I provide problematic examples, Janel Landis gives online marketers a clear-headed approach to Second Search – Search Insider
Vasanth Sridharan over at Silicon Valley Insider has a different view on Second Search:if a site’s own search is better people will use that instead of Google’s. Basis of the second search conversation: missed. – Silicon Valley Insider
Google: No, no, it’s called “teleportation!” – The Official Google Blog

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