Travel firms act to protect search ranking
4 March 2005
Three top travel operators have taken action to stop rival companies linking their websites to market leaders.
Thomson, Thomas Cook and First Choice took action to ensure their websites are ranked first when consumers search for them on Google.
Search giant Google insists that it stops websites from using trademarks "incorrectly" and will remove any trademarked terms being used as a "keyword trigger". Firms pay Google to have their websites linked to particular search terms.
"As stated in our Terms and Conditions, advertisers themselves are responsible for the keywords and ad text that they choose to use," Google said in a statement. "However, as a courtesy to trademark owners, Google will perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints."
Thomson said Google was allowing businesses to "protect a brand name", according to the BBC.
However, Travel Weekly reports that smaller travel agents have complained that the Google policy is "anti-competitive".
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