I bet if you do it yourself on your website, Google will blame you because you are doing "click incitement"...
What do you think?

PS: click rate ~= 100% ^^

[Edit: Added the last paragraph to better emphasize that it's just an experiment.]

I saw yesterday, that on some searches the top suggest was linked

I hope this isn't made permanent.
As much as I love Google, I'd strongly consider finding a new search engine if that happened.
And if it happens to Chrome, I'll just switch back to Firefox

I think the recession is superb opportunity for Google.
They can test every form of advertising without much impact on users' perceptions and use.
* no one can really blame them in such harsh times
* few will flee to Yahoo, who pushes more ads too
* they can come back at a normal ad level later
* they gather lots of figures and pattern about users' behavior
* they can estimate the optimal ad level
* they can measure how people and media react for each additional ad
* meanwhile, they're harvesting easy cash!

Philipp Lenssen
<<could these type of ads ever become part of Google Chrome’s browser address bar auto-completion, too?>>
I'm think Google expects the auto-completion feature will be soon the first point of access for search (especially via Chrome, but also on mobile where users are annoyed by classic ads). Thus, testing it on google.com provide them lots of stats that may convince them to bring this kind of ads elsewhere.

This is probably the worst idea I've ever seen Google try. And yeah, even if it's "testing," I think it's pretty unethical and ugly to boot.

I bet those ads convert like shit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the first time ever that there are ads on the home page of Google. Except Google services-related ads of course.

This is getting crazy.

I don't think this is a bad idea at all. On first glance, seems like a great idea. I want in.

My only concern is that it'd be too easy to misclick if it's the first "suggestion", and perhaps a bit intrusive, too.

If it's at the bottom rather than the top, I would have no objections at all.

Don't worry, they'll only add the navigational link for queries like [ibm] or [coca cola]. Ads and Oneboxes are extreme experiments that aren't likely to become standard features.

Ads, ads, ads! Put some in my breakfast cereal; put some in my slippers; put some on my window when I open the blinds...

I really don't like Google ads, I know it needs them to keep it going, but I never use them, as the person who put them there obviously doesn't have a good enough website to get it high, so probably (not always) not a good product/service.

Thanks and nice site!
[sig removed ~ hebbet]