Here’s an interesting one, an ad for Airbnb… right above a search result for Airbnb, first found by Twitter user @callumj.
You’ve seen this before, but the reason for it is a little surprising. Companies let advertisers pick just about any search term they want when they’re setting up ad campaigns. That can create a problem for business. For example, if you’re Walgreens, CVS could pay for their name to show up first in the ad space at the top of the screen when people search type in Walgreens.
That means companies often have to buy ads that show up when people are already searching for the name of their businesses. That’s not really advertising, it’s paying to prevent other people from stealing your customers.
Google is notorious for this problem, and some companies have told me in the past that they believe the problem amounts to mafia-style extortion. Pay up, or you won’t be at the top of search results for your own company. Apple seems to be following in Google’s foot steps.