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Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by monokh on Sunday January 10, 2021 @05:15PM (#25720657)
This practice is called "Brand bidding" and is actually extremely common among competitors. Occasionally companies will mutually agree to not participate.

It's actually surprising why it's not perceived to be more hostile.

Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by srfvtgb on Sunday January 10, 2021 @05:59PM (#25721217)
I don't know if this is still the case, but for a while the easiest way to get the best deal from Dominoes was to search Google for Pizza Hut with your adblocker turned off.
Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by giarc on Sunday January 10, 2021 @05:17PM (#25720687)
Ya this is kind of a non-story. They were probably bidding on 'Signal' prior to this current set of events anyways. And since Signal doesn't appear to be bidding on it's own name, Facebook is probably paying very little for that top spot.
Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by st1x7 on Sunday January 10, 2021 @06:30PM (#25721568)
Bidding on your name might be an even bigger waste of money than bidding on a competitor's name, especially for established brands. eBay's experience with this came up on a recent episode of Freakonomics - https://freakonomics.com/podcast/advertising-part-2/
Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by buzzerbetrayed on Sunday January 10, 2021 @07:23PM (#25722229)
Whenever I search for a brand by name and an ad for them pops up (in the rare case that I’m browsing without an ad blocker), I try to click on the non ad version right below it just to save them a bit of money.
Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by glandium on Sunday January 10, 2021 @08:22PM (#25722947)
Like, if you search for Firefox on the Play Store, you get an ad for Brave.
Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by aembleton on Monday January 11, 2021 @10:25AM (#25730118)
At least the link for Brave appears below the information box about Firefox.
Re:Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when y... by glandium on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @07:35AM (#25745991)
It's almost surprising that it's the case, considering where ads appear in google.com results.