Internet Users Confuse Search Results, Ads

"Only 38 percent of Web searchers even know there is a difference between search results and paid advertisements, and of those, not even half -- 47 percent -- say they can always tell one from the other. That means only 18 percent of all Web searchers know when a link is paid."

Google Inc. marks such ads as "sponsored links," Yahoo Inc. terms them "sponsor results" and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN uses "sponsored sites." Such ads are placed to the right and on top of the regular search results, in some cases highlighted in a different color. But only 38 percent of Web searchers even know of the distinction, and of those, not even half - 47 percent - say they can always tell which are paid. That comes out to only 18 percent of all Web searchers knowing when a link is paid.