{"id":235,"date":"2004-03-30T11:52:23","date_gmt":"2004-03-30T16:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/70.86.87.84\/?p=235"},"modified":"2004-03-30T11:52:23","modified_gmt":"2004-03-30T16:52:23","slug":"overture-and-gator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/overture-and-gator\/","title":{"rendered":"Overture and Gator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several companies that have contacted PC Pitstop are puzzled how they could be associated with Gator when they honestly don’t believe their company does business with Gator Corporation. Our first thought was that there was simply someone else in the organization responsible for advertising through the Gator Advertising Information Network (GAIN), or perhaps that a third-party ad agency they hired was responsible for placing Gator advertising. (For example, adware has caused concern<\/a> for companies such as Toyota.) However, we have found another way that many companies may unwittingly be advertising on Gator through its partnership with Overture and the Search Scout feature. <\/p>\n

Overture’s service allows businesses to “purchase keywords” so that an ad will show up when users search for that word. Several large sites such as MSN and Yahoo use Overture to show these text-based ads. Google has a similar program on its own search site called AdWords. On their own, these keyword-based ads can be a useful and beneficial way for businesses to reach potential customers, and for consumers to find products and services. However, Overture’s recent use of Gator has changed the equation. <\/p>\n

In April 2003, Gator and Overture announced a three-year partnership<\/a> for Gator to show Overture ads. Gator’s software monitors the user’s activity on web sites and search engines (even sites such as Google that are not affiliated with Overture) and grabs search keywords for use in its own search engine. As a result, advertisers who have paid for listings in Overture may find their products advertised in a pop-under window through Gator’s Search Scout, even if they want nothing to do with Gator. <\/p>\n

Here are several other pages where others express their concern for the partnership between Gator and Overture and the effect it is having on advertisers: <\/p>\n