????每年冬天的節(jié)日季對(duì)各地的零售商而言都是關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻。假期間的銷售業(yè)績往往決定了企業(yè)全年是盈利還是虧損。網(wǎng)上有一家公司雖然不銷售商品，卻仍然在此期間賺得盆滿缽滿，這就是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索和廣告巨頭谷歌（Google）。

????長期以來，谷歌的業(yè)績都會(huì)在第四季度出現(xiàn)上揚(yáng)，因?yàn)榇藭r(shí)廣告主會(huì)格外大方的購買廣告，吸引客戶。今年，谷歌有望從電子商務(wù)熱潮中獲得比以往更高的收益，而這部分要?dú)w功于它的購物搜索引擎。谷歌的購物搜索與它的常規(guī)搜索不同，搜索結(jié)果完全由付費(fèi)廣告組成。Jefferies & Company的最新分析顯示，谷歌的購物搜索業(yè)務(wù)受到了零售商的大力追捧。

????在美國，所謂的產(chǎn)品列表廣告（product listing ads, PLAs）的數(shù)量比一年前翻了一番；而在英國，此類廣告的數(shù)量增長了130％。Jefferies公司稱：“它使谷歌能從可靠的假期電子商務(wù)趨勢(shì)中收獲回報(bào)。”

????這些廣告一直飽受爭議。谷歌成立初期，拉里?佩奇和謝爾蓋曾經(jīng)發(fā)表過一段著名的言論：如果在搜索引擎中允許廣告商通過付費(fèi)展現(xiàn)，勢(shì)必將影響自然搜索結(jié)果。谷歌創(chuàng)始人的這番話可以理解為“競(jìng)價(jià)排名生而不公”。

????不過，就在一年多前，已在購物搜索領(lǐng)域沉浮多年的谷歌終于決定徹底變革，開始要求零售商為搜索結(jié)果付費(fèi)。對(duì)此，搜索領(lǐng)域資深分析師、SearchEngineLand網(wǎng)站編輯丹尼?蘇利文稱，這個(gè)改變“讓人震驚、看起來很糟糕”。谷歌的死對(duì)頭微軟（Microsoft）反應(yīng)更加強(qiáng)烈，它發(fā)起了一場(chǎng)針對(duì)谷歌的運(yùn)動(dòng)，高喊“別被谷歌騙了”的口號(hào)。微軟語重心長地提醒大家，佩奇和布林允許競(jìng)價(jià)排名干擾搜索結(jié)果，同時(shí)號(hào)召大家使用自己的必應(yīng)（Bing），獲得公正的搜索結(jié)果。

????去年，筆者曾詢問過佩奇產(chǎn)品列表廣告是否有失公允，他表示反對(duì)。（佩奇2011年被任命為谷歌首席執(zhí)行官。）他表示購物搜索的結(jié)果參考了“競(jìng)價(jià)模型”，能為谷歌的購物搜索引擎提供更精準(zhǔn)的信息。

????The winter holiday season is crunch time for retailers everywhere. Often, it's the difference between a profitable year and one that ends in the red. On the Web, one company is not selling goods, but still profiting handsomely anyway: Google.

????The Internet search and advertising giant has long seen an uptick in business in the fourth quarter, as advertisers spend extra to lure customers. This year, Google (GOOG) appears poised to benefit more than ever from the e-commerce boom, thanks in part to its shopping search engine. Unlike its regular search results, its shopping results are made entirely of paid ads, and retailers have embraced them with a vengeance, according to a new analysis by Jefferies & Company.

????In the United States, the number of so-called product listing ads, or PLAs, has doubled from a year ago, whereas in the United Kingdom, it has grown by 130%. "This positions Google to benefit from solid holiday eCommerce trends," Jefferies said.

????The ads have been controversial. In Google's early days, founders Larry Page and Sergey famously said that allowing advertisers to pay to be listed in a search engine would lead to bias in search results. The practice, also known as "paid inclusion," was inherently "evil," in the words of the company's founders.

????But a little more than a year ago, Google, which had long struggled to gain traction in shopping searches, did an about face, and began requiring retailers who wanted to be included in its shopping results to pay up. Danny Sullivan, a veteran search analyst and the editor of SearchEngineLand, called it a "stunning change" that "looked bad." Microsoft (MSFT), Google's perennial rival, went a step further, launching an anti-Google campaign with the tag line "don't get scroogled." The campaign reminded consumers of the Page and Brin promise on paid inclusion and urged them to switch to Bing for honest product search results.

????Last year, when I asked Page whether PLAs are evil, he demurred. (He became CEO in 2011.) He described the change in shopping results to a "bid model" as necessary to bring accurate information to Google's product search.