Google started testing it’s search within a search feature more than a month ago. As I said in my initial post, the important things to note about the new functionality were 1) the Google Shopping link and 2) the ever-present Google Adwords listings.

In Bob Tedeschi’s NYTimes article on March 24, he went with the shocker of a headline: A New Tool From Google Alarms Sites. In the article, industry pundits like Alan Rimm-Kaufmann expressed concern over the feature. Ice.com’s ever-present VP of Marketing, Pinny Gniwisch said “Google’s new feature did not appear when users searched for Ice.com, but he said he would object if it did.” And the article pretty much stated that Amazon had requested that Google remove the Amazon search within a search feature.

When the feature first launched, Borders, BestBuy, and OfficeMax were the other large retailers discovered to have the feature active. BestBuy is the only retailer that still seems to have the functionality live.

The main point I picked up from Bob Tedeschi’s article was that the basic problem publishers/retailers had with the new functionality was that Google is selling Adwords ads against brand names. A big no no in the eyes of so many.

But the most important line in the article is Alan Rimm-Kaufmann’s quotation: “Some of our retail clients have pretty horrible site search,” he said. “So for them, this will be a benefit.”

Well, I’ll go a step further and say that this will be an extremely popular and well accepted program for 1000s of retailers.

Why?

Because it’s not only that some retailers have horrible site search, it’s that 10s of 1000s of retailers have a long way to go to providing a smart shopping experience. When sites don’t have proper site search, proper categorization, and don’t provide a logical UI, consumers can’t find anything or at least give up fairly quickly.

There are a lot of factors which contribute to a low conversion rate for retailers, but with Google search within a search, 10s of 1000s of poorly thought out sites can benefit because Google will bring consumers directly to product pages.

And while I agree that the creme de la creme of the brand name retailers will not put up with Google Adwords ads featuring competitors next to their precious content, the creme de la creme might represent less than 1% of all internet retailers (there are only 400 IR top 400 retailers out of about 300,000 online merchants).

Some portion of the other 299,600 merchants on the web are going to be fine seeing competitor product listings right next to their own. In fact, 1000s are already are used to it. Amazon might not want Google to display competitor listings in Adwords ads next to Amazon search within a search content, but Amazon enables a similar ability on Amazon.com through its Marketplace and Product Ads programs.
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As TechCrunch reported earlier today, Google is testing secondary search boxes for top retailers like Amazon, Borders, BestBuy, and OfficeMax. While I couldn’t get the searches to work properly, if you search in the Amazon search box (see screenshot below), Google will keep you on Google.com, display the normal AdWords listings, and display Amazon’s content in place of Google’s normal organic results. Also important to note, at least in my searches using the Amazon box, Google highlights its own Shopping search results through its universal search link for Shopping (see screenshot below).

I could only get the Amazon, OfficeMax, etc. search boxes to come up in IE.

Amazon search box on Google:

Results page - Searched for ‘red sweater’ - the Amazon ‘organic’ listings are at the bottom of the page as something is wrong with the UI (see next screenshot). The important thing to note is the use of Google’s own Shopping link and those ever present AdWords listings:

Obviously Amazon’s ‘organic’ listings are supposed to be displayed as Google’s organic listings usually are displayed, but the UI seems to be off:

Amazon sent a blast email out this morning announcing its Product Ads program.

I’ll have lots of comments on this before the end of the week, but I at least wanted to spread the news. With Amazon Product Ads, merchants can now list products on Amazon and drive consumers back to their sites as opposed to having to buy through Amazon. That’s a BIG change.

From the email

Product Ads is an advertising program designed to give customers seamless access to products available on web sites external to amazon.com. As a seller, you simply upload your catalog and set your cost-per-click bids. We will then display highly targeted ads for your items on select amazon.com product and search pages. Customers can click over to your web site and purchase the product directly from you. Product Ads uses a cost-per-click model, and there are no monthly fees. You only pay for clicks generated by your ads. You can manage how much you spend by setting a daily budget.

eBay has PayPal. Google has Google Checkout. And now Amazon will have Bill Me Later.

According to the press release via Techcrunch, Amazon will invest in Bill Me Later and also add Bill Me Later as a payment option on Amazon.com.