CNET: Search engines rethink paid inclusion

In the face of a search engine marketshare battle between Google, Yahoo and Microsoft that makes search results relevance supremely important, the practice of allowing marketers to purchase access into those listings is looking like less and less of a good idea. Ask Jeeves announced yesterday it would stop allowing "paid inclusion" after having curtailed the practice earlier in the year.

Yahoo has been under pressure to do the same, with sites like SearchEngineWatch beating the drum for dropping paid inclusion for the last few weeks. Many users find Yahoo's business directory a strange melange of the companies that happen to pay for access, driving them to places like Google to find relevant information.