[chatmasta]

These App Store ads are the Wild West right now. I've seen multiple cases where I search an exact app name, and that app's competitor has the top "spot" due to buying an ad. It's like if you searched for Uber and saw an ad for Lyft above it.

How long will apple allow this? At the very least it should be impossible to bid on trademarked terms, and no ad should ever outrank an exact match result.

[jasongill]

Contrary to what other commenters believe, this is the way that all PPC systems work - search for "Uber" on Google, Bing, etc and you're guaranteed to see a Lyft ad.

[thaumasiotes]

Googled "uber".

Top result: ad - www.uber.com

Second result: ad - www.lyft.com/Uber_Drivers/Join_Lyft

Third result: organic - www.uber.com

There should be more results, but they aren't visible without scrolling down. Frankly, I find that more disturbing than anything else about this.

[Buge]

The Uber result for me also gives me 5 internal links to uber.com and a "more results from uber.com" link. Also in the sidebar I get a link to Uber's wikipedia page, as well as various information about the company, and links to competitors such as Lyft and Sidecar.

[B1FF_PSUVM]

Welcome to 1997.

[ikeboy]

just did in incognito and saw an uber ad but no lyft one

[jasonlotito]

http://imgur.com/a/dASeT

Lyft and Uber.

[jlarocco]

No doubt Uber paid a lot of money for that to be the case...

[Buge]

They're paying money so that I don't see ads? That seems quite nice of them.

[jlarocco]

Not sure if you're being facetious or not, but they're paying Google to not show ads for their competitors when a person searches for "uber".

[Pyxl101]

As far as I'm aware, that's not something that Google allows you to do. Is it?

It seems more likely that:

- Other services have decided not to bid on "Uber". It may be more useful to bid on general keywords like "taxi" or "black car", etc.

- The price for that keyword is too high to be worth it

- The performance of the ads is poor such that Google doesn't show them.

- It's also possible that Lyft is bidding on the keyword "Uber", but only in certain geographical areas where they're trying to grow their presence.

[nl]

No, Google enforces trademarks after a complaint by the owner.

I believe competitors can still bid for that word, but cannot misuse it (ie, make misleading claims, or claim to be that company)

See https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6118

[reboog711]

Ignoring any ethical concerns you may have...

Advertising has often been comparing yourself to other brands. As one real world example: The Pepsi Challenge from the 80s. People drank Coke and Pepsi blindly and chose which one they liked better.

It is not illegal in the US and not inherently a misuse of trademark law. I'd be surprised if you were to tell me that Uber and Lyft are not buying ads against each other's search terms.

[chatmasta]

Google does not allow bidding on trademark terms you do not own, so there is at least clear precedent.

Edit: Oops, mostly wrong. Guess I've had an adblocker for too long. :)

[jasongill]

Yes they do, and they have for 15+ years. Their website even says:

Trademarks as keywords Google won't investigate or restrict the selection of trademarks as keywords, even if we receive a trademark complaint.

Search for "Uber" on Google and you should see a Lyft ad right near the top of the paid section.

[tyingq]

Worth noting they will police the use of the trademarked term in the ad itself. But only after the trademark owner complains about it, and not in all situations. You can still bid on the term, of course, just somewhat restricted in what the resulting ad can say.

[pavel_lishin]

Isn't it more like searching for Uber, and seeing an ad for Ober, that's advertising an app that look exactly like Uber's?

[yvsong]

Historically Apple's primary strength is product quality. This kind of apps should not pass the App Store review. The App Store should not allow ads, since they reduce overall product quality. Google web search is different. Google does not control web contents. Google's primary product/service is the free web search, and they have to make a profit from it. App Store search is a tiny part of Apple's product/service. Apple makes tons of money from other parts.

Steve Jobs was the creative artist in the IT industry, and obsessive in product quality. It may be time to ask the question "What would Steve Jobs have done?"

[usaphp]

> it's like if you searched for uber and ad for lyft above.

When I search for lyft I actually see uber ad above: https://imgur.com/gallery/zQz7e