Olivier Travers underscores some comments from Andrew Goodman on the value of contextual ads that I've agreed with for some time. I too find myself looking for the ads that are relevant to what I'm searching for. Especially when I'm now 'looking for services' to purchase or benchmark, the commercial listings (vs. organic) have proved to be increasingly more pertinent to my needs. Critical mass is key here. Without enough relevant advertisers, this concept holds no merit.

However, the onus is now on the advertisers to provide ever-relevant landing pages to ensure that they're giving us exactly what we're seeking, or they've defeated the entire purpose of their efforts, and angered us in the process.

Hear, hear! I find myself actively looking for the ads when I'm doing product/shopping-related queries, as sometimes all I want is to know where to buy the freaking stuff and how much it costs. Someone explaining why they offered the thing for their grandma for Christmas, or an obscure academic paper which happens to include my query's keywords, is sometimes just noise. It's all about context.