Here’s How Facebook is ENCROACHING on Google Territory

In a continued attempt to improve advertisement offerings to brands on its social network, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) introduced a sponsored search results feature on Wednesday. The new system adds sponsored ads from companies in search results made by a user for specific apps or pages. The social network said it had been testing the feature for almost a month now and is finally ready to unleash it on a wider audience. Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), Disney (NYSE:DIS), and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) are some of the brands that are already running Sponsored Results.

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At the moment, the ads only link back to the business’ Facebook page, though external links may be introduced soon. The ads appear in a separate, black-bordered section in the type-ahead results and can even be placed above the organic result for the actual search term, according to TechCrunch. Users do have an option to hide the ad.

“Every day, many people on Facebook use our search to find people, places, and things,” Facebook said in an announcement to select marketers. “We want to help them better find and discover the brands, products, and experiences relevant to them. Sponsored Results gives brands the ability to buy ads in search results, bringing more awareness and traffic to your App, Page, or Place.”

While search results are an obvious target at Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Facebook still has some way to go in terms of relevance and reach considering the difference in users’ search intent on the two websites.

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