Title: Reuters News Article
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 Britain Cracks Down on Paid Web Search Results
Wed June 16, 2004 08:20 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - British regulators have asked an Internet service provider to make clearer that some of its Web search results are paid advertisements, saying pay-for-placement listings from search provider Overture could confuse consumers.

The British ISP Wanadoo, a unit of its namesake French parent company, displays a light-gray hyperlink against a white background to explain that search results from Overture are ranked according to the highest bidder instead of by relevance.

Users searching for "Harry Potter," for example, see six Overture results from sites including eBay and Toys R Us before the official sites for the Harry Potter movies and books.

Overture is owned by Internet powerhouse Yahoo.

The UK's Advertising Services Authority ruled that "because sponsored links were not clearly identified by a headline or title ... consumers could be misled." It asked the ISP "to ensure that sponsored links were clearly identified in future."

Paid search listings have become a valuable source of revenue for Internet companies.

They are also a battleground in the fierce rivalry between Yahoo and the popular Internet search engine Google, which does not accept fees for its primary search results but displays ads adjacent to its listings.

A spokesman for Wanadoo said: "We're looking at the ASA report with some interest," and declined further comment.

The ASA has no powers to compel advertisers to comply with its rulings, but it can pass on cases to the UK's Office of Fair Trading.

The Wanadoo ISP in the UK was previously called Freeserve but changed its name in April to conform with its French parent, which is a unit of France Telecom.


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