Injecting into Google Serps

[John]

Hi there,

I noticed that Rakuten Rewards (a large US loyalty/cashback site) are injecting their own custom ads into the Google search results (example here: https://pasteboard.co/KamBjkH.png).

Does anyone know if this breaks any google / chrome guidelines or if it's fair game to do this?  Doesn't seem like the kind of thing that Google would allow but equally Rakuten is a large extension and business so would think they are quite risk adverse.

[Robbi]

Are you sure this is the result of an extension?

it is more likely to be an ad paid by the advertiser to Google.

[Cuyler Stuwe]

It's kinda obvious that it's a browser extension, as Google wouldn't do the purple-branded R button, etc.

But just for posterity's sake, here's a comparison of the same search with the extension (chhjbpecpncaggjpdakmflnfcopglcmi) not installed, vs. installed:

[Cuyler Stuwe]

As far as the question itself is concerned: I'm not aware of any restrictions on Chrome extensions altering Google search results.

There's no reason it wouldn't be as fair-game as any other site. It follows the "single, clear-purpose" requirement; Users explicitly install this extension specifically in order to be advertised to.

The biggest obstacles you'll run into if you try to do something similar are:

1. If the "single purpose" of your extension isn't to sign up for deals, then this would definitely be against the rules.

2. Even if it's OK with the Chrome Web Store, it might not be OK with whatever ad network/program you're usi ng.

[Robbi]

It's not like I went looking for an extension with that name and tried to install it. If it immediately made clear the extension id I would never have installed it anyway. I just wanted to say something more than obvious (I think). That is, that Google put the advertisers' results in the head with a much more captivating style and very different from the other results.

[Cuyler Stuwe]

Nah. It’s not really in Google’s interests to make ads stand out from organic results, and indeed, over the years, it has caught flack for intentionally making them harder to differentiate. Ads that look like ads are less likely to be clicked.

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