Goldman Sachs’ Secret Web War with the White House Over Google Search Ads

ABC News is reporting that the Obama White House, in response to the SEC‘s suing Goldman Sachs for fraud, bought an ad for the Google search terms “Goldman Sachs SEC“ as part of an online ad campaign for financial reform. A simple search for those terms led to a page titled Organizing America that serves as a call to action for people frustrated with Wall Street.

According to Phil Noble, founder of Politics Online:

A keyword search for advertising is nothing new, but they have incorporated keyword searches into their daily war room activities. These guys are reacting to what’s in the news and creating a minute-by-minute strategy.

Goldman Sachs’ people weren’t slouches about it either: they countered by buying an ad for the same search terms that led to their statement on the SEC suit, bringing the two sides into what the Daily News called a “click-for click clash of the search terms.” The timing of the ads have also garnered criticism from the right on how involved the White House was in the case.

Translation: The Obama White House and Goldman Sachs are demonstrating the power of search and the importance of our search patterns for support for legislation. This is only proof of how both sides have gotten more tech savvy.

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Kwame Opam