In its latest study, Consumer Reports WebWatch tells us what we already know about Internet search engines -- that they display advertising within and around their search results.

	Tips for telling ads from editorial Look for disclosures for ads. They usually use phrases such as "Sponsored Links," "Ads by ... ," "Sponsor Results," "Sponsored Matches" and "Featured Sites" If you don't see a disclosure telling you it's an ad, assume it's an ad. Many Web site operators are mixing ads with editorial. Don't be angry if all you find are ads. If the ad is for something that interests you, click to find out more. The advertiser paid to find you, probably based on your search or other characteristic. He doesn't want to waste his money on people who would not be interested in his service. Advertising is a great matchmaker. Be careful about clicking on the links that are not ads. These are often not scrutinized as well as the advertiser links. They might falsely identify themselves or expose you to viruses, spyware and other problems.

Big deal. Like TV, radio and trade publications, we're already used to accepting advertisements because we don't have to hand over hard-earned cash to take advantage of those services. Could search engines be much different?

In some ways, they mirror our traditional values. Advertising plays an important role in getting us information. Whether we want to know about the latest products and services or learn where local sales are happening, we turn to ads. On radio and TV, they disrupt programming. In daily newspapers, you can easily tell the ads from the editorial. On Sundays, as we seek out circulars of our favorite stores.

On the Web, it's different. It's harder to differentiate between ads and content -- and that's where the Consumer Reports study gives us additional insights.

The researchers at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, looked at 15 large search engines and found them to be confusing because of the way they treat their advertising. CU's results show that advertising disclosure statements are difficult to spot, sometimes incomprehensible and create confusion. CU singled out Google because the top search engine doesn't have any explanation about what "Sponsored Links" are.

So I took another look myself at traditional media and a couple search engines. I started my tour at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, a traditional newspaper with a content-rich Web site. The PG includes several types of advertising within its online pages -- including banner ads and billboards. Some seem to be national advertisements; others are for local PG advertisers and for Post Gazette online features.

At the bottom of the articles, the PG provides context-sensitive ads from Google. A context-sensitive ad is one in which the advertiser purchases a keyword. Then when you read a page, it will include that ad if the topic of that page relates to that keyword. The Google advertising section on the PG Web site is set off in a separate color to differentiate it from the newspaper's editorial content, and is labeled "Ads by Google."

Then I went to my own Web site, where I also serve Google ads -- although I have little control over which Google ads you see and what they look like beyond their color scheme. My Google ads are also offset by color and lines, and are labeled "Ads by Goooooogle." No, that's not a mistake. Google puts six "o's" in the label. In both my case and the PG's, it is easy to tell the difference between the ads and the editorial content.

At Google's own Web site, the ads show up at the top in blue shading, and in a separate noncontrasting white column at the right, both labeled as "Sponsored Links" -- not quite as clear, and with no place to go for further definition.

In stark contrast, when you do a search at Alta Vista, formerly one of the top search engines whose market share has faded substantially, you may find a long list of "Sponsored Matches" at the top of your page before you even scroll down to the matches labeled "Alta Vista found." The top section is all ads, while the bottom section is a combination of listings from Yahoo! and ads from Overture (an online advertising company). You can't tell the difference. Alta Vista and Overture are both now owned by Yahoo!.

So it is different on the Web, depending on where you browse. Buyer beware. And those are reputable Web sites. Other Web site publishers have fewer scruples. Keep your guard high.

See an abstract or the full text of the Consumer Union report.