# Google is mixing ads with search results **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845 "2004-08-14T16:55:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/1 "2004-08-14T16:55:46Z")
Yeah this really surprised me because I discovered this when checking my own website’s ranking. Go to Google and type in “triangle calculator” - exact phrase. The first result that comes up is my webpage - [www.1728.com](http://www.1728.com) However, there are 3 indented search results that have NOTHING to do with my website. 2 are for 2020 search and the third is for ebay. The last indeneted search result is for another traiangle calculator of mine. I have NO adverting on my website, I am not a member of any affiliate programs, etc. I am guessing (maybe naively) that Google has nothing to to with this. Perhaps some hackers have figured out a way to “sleaze” advertisements into search results. Is anyone else aware of this ? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/2 "2004-08-14T17:01:38Z")
I don’t get the same result you do. No results at all for [202.com](http://202.com) or eBay. I suspect you may have a search hijacker at work here. Run an updated Adaware and/or Spybot (prefereably both) scan and whatever other similar utilities are mentioned in the computer questions Sticky. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/3 "2004-08-14T17:02:06Z")
Works fine for me. I got 643 hits, with the first page all being trigonometry, and the second having one reference to Pascal’s triangle and one to a company that gives out “Triangle Reward Points”, which look like air miles. (I didn’t go to the page, just read the Google snippet.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/4 "2004-08-14T17:03:08Z")
That should read “no results at all for [2020.com](http://2020.com)…” ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/5 "2004-08-14T17:04:38Z")
I just did. First Rank - Your site. Second Rank - Your site (indented) Third through Eigth Ranks - All private sites (non-paid) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/6 "2004-08-14T17:08:58Z")
I get 647 results, with none for 2020 Search in the first 100 hits. I did get a hit for ebay, but it didn’t have “triangle calculator” in it when I went there. The cached version did though, so I think it was a legitamate search result. I agree with **QED** , you probably have some spyware lurking in your system somewhere that is futzing with you google searches. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/7 "2004-08-14T17:44:40Z")
**Thanks all !!!** I had run Spybot just last night but it had been a week since I ran Ad-A-Ware. That seems to have done the trick. Damn those “crapware” writers !!! It really looked as if they were Google search results. How do the sleazeballs get away with this? AND do these cesspool dwellers think this is going to enhance someone’s website traffic? Anyway, thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/8 "2004-08-14T17:55:40Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > AND do these cesspool dwellers think this is going to enhance someone’s website traffic? Yes, and they do. There’s plenty of naive people out there who will click on those spurious links, some of whom may then purchase products from the hijacking site. Clearly, it’s lucrative enough so that the creators of this crap continue to do so and be well paid for it by unscrupulous websites. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/9 "2004-08-16T11:29:33Z")
I didn’t want to do it, but I’m going to anyway – I got a fancy new (used) big monitor for my Mac, but after seeing the fuzzy text put it on the PC instead. Since the change from 15" to 19" was so drastic, I decided to give the PC another change at endearing itself to me. First thing I wanted to do was burn a Suse 9.1 ISO (which I normally did on the Mac). I don’t have Roxio whatever-it-is installed this time, and it turns out Windows won’t burn images natively. Quick Google Groups search led me to a free program _absolutely loaded_ with spyware. Even after _refusing_ the license (which I read just for spyware crap), I was already “infected.” Ach! I guess the moral of the story is, you can’t connect a Windows computer to the internet. But then, how do you get SP2? Security updates? All that other good stuff that just doesn’t appear to work? I’m not saying that Macs are immune – they’re just more obscure. Works for me. 🙂 Oh, running a virtual machine is another possibility. Once your VM is so infected with crap you can’t stand it any more, trash the image and restore the original. The presents the problem, though, of some VM’s being incapable of running XP unless you have a corporate serial version. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/10 "2004-08-16T11:56:24Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I guess the moral of the story is, you can’t connect a Windows computer to the internet. Yeah, running a PC on the internet is like having sex with a hooker; if your wear a couple of condoms and don’t leave your wallet on the dresser, you probably won’t get burned. Using a Mac is like having sex with your sister; you probably won’t catch anything but, _Eeeeewwwwww!!_ ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/11 "2004-08-16T17:18:05Z")
Hey, you’ve never even met my sister, how can you say “Ewww!”?? ---
**Author:** ![FX45\_4Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4bbf92/32.png) [@FX45\_4Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FX45_4Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/12 "2004-08-16T19:19:36Z")
I think he meant, using a Mac computer is like one having sex with one’s own sista… lol :wally ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/13 "2004-08-17T11:22:57Z")
Oh, be fair – have you even _tried_ having sex with your own sister? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-is-mixing-ads-with-search-results/259845/14 "2004-08-17T11:23:59Z")
Errr… that was supposed to have come out, “…using a Mac?” 🙂