GoodSearch.com is it THAT Good?

“Like many other Web sites, a pair of online newcomers, Blingo and GoodSearch, license search technology from Google and Yahoo and earn a commission from the major search companies for any ads visitors click on when they are on Blingo.com or GoodSearch.com. (Those ads are, like the search results, generated by Google and Yahoo.) Unlike other sites, though, both Blingo and GoodSearch give away portions of their revenue - as prizes or as donations to the users’ favorite charities.”- Bob Tedeschi-Nytimes.com

From its cute use of using a Halo in it’s branding to the 46 articles of praise (Oprah Magazine, Fortune Small Business, CNN…) you feel like you are serving a higher purpose as you go about your daily searching. While fundamentally I think this is a great idea to aid Nonprofits, it’s creators Ken and JJ Ramberg are not telling the “full story” to there loyal user base.

The sites FAQ’s vs. Reality:

Good Search FAQ:

Are the search results going to be as good as the search engine I am using now?

“Absolutely. GoodSearch.com is powered by Yahoo! so you’ll get the same high- quality search results that you’re currently used to — or better!

The Full Truth:

Yes, GoodSearch.com is powered by Yahoo!, but the search results are not from Yahoo!’s organic results (natural algorithm) , but from Yahoo! Panama (formerly Overture) paid search platform. The Goodsearch.com search results page’s design looks similar to that of a Google results page, which is very misleading as this design alludes to a segmentation of Sponsored result and a organic result. For the sites FAQ to claim that these are better results seems a bit far fetched. As a gent in the SEO/SEM industry I could make a strong case why Paid Ads are great, but in this particular case GoodSearch.com is not being upfront/honest with their user base.

The Big Question:
The main concern is what ratio of GoodSearch.com results (which are just “Sponsored Results”) are going to charity vs. operational site costs. As GoodSearch.com’s design is visual segmenting what is normally paid and organic, it leads one to wonder if they are segmenting the funds to charity based on the sites design. If they are only giving what is labeled on the site as “Sponsored Results”, well your favorite charity may be losing out. Jupiter Research has stated that across the 4 top search engines- Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and AOl 60.5% clicked on organic or “algorithmic” search results, while 39.5% clicked on a paid search advertisement.

Is GoodSearch.com taking that 60.5% while only giving 39.5% of each paid ad?

The FAQ’s also states:” We estimate that each Web search will generate approximately $0.01 for the designated charity or school (image, video and news searches are not included). It quickly adds up!”

Sadly this only supports the theory that Goodsearch.com is taking more than they could be giving. $0.01 per search seems a bit low for an average.

A concern is that people doing research via GoodSeach.com (presumably a B2C search) may not know they are getting “Paid” results, which are a bit bias. The low quality of the results relevancy is the likely factor why GoodSearch.com has had a steady decline in traffic sine April 2006, which is a shame cause Non-profits have lost a small revenue stream.