[daviddisco]

I can't speak for Google but I think the theory they work under is that for some queries the ads are the best results. In other words, the user is more likely to find what they are looking for if those ads are there. There are many signals used for ranking results and the ad auction price is one signal.

[tonyedgecombe]

That used to be the case, I remember searching for desktop software and the adverts would be the most relevant results. For whatever reason that stopped working a long time ago.

[johnnyo]

Interesting, I’ve been burned so many times, I always skip any result tagged as an ad. I can’t be the only one.