<s>
Favored	B-Application
placement	I-Application
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
preferred	O
placement	O
)	O
is	O
the	O
practice	O
of	O
preferentially	O
listing	O
search	O
engine	O
results	O
for	O
given	O
sites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
pay	O
for	O
placement	O
,	O
but	O
this	O
term	O
usually	O
refers	O
to	O
advertisements	O
that	O
appear	O
along	O
with	O
relevant	O
search	O
results	O
while	O
favored	B-Application
placement	I-Application
affects	O
the	O
order	O
of	O
actual	O
search	O
results	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
earliest	O
companies	O
to	O
use	O
favored	B-Application
placement	I-Application
was	O
Open	O
Text	O
Corporation	O
for	O
its	O
Open	O
Text	O
Index	O
search	O
engine	O
in	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
February	O
1998	O
GoTo.com,	O
a	O
project	O
of	O
Idealab	O
,	O
started	O
using	O
favored	B-Application
placement	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
Open	O
Text	O
,	O
GoTo.com	B-Application
was	O
more	O
successful	O
that	O
after	O
five	O
months	O
,	O
more	O
than	O
a	O
thousand	O
sites	O
were	O
paying	O
for	O
favored	B-Application
placement	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
acquired	O
GoTo.com	B-Application
(	O
which	O
was	O
renamed	O
Overture	B-Application
Services	I-Application
,	I-Application
Inc	I-Application
.	I-Application
at	O
the	O
time	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
service	O
became	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
As	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Google-AOL	O
deal	O
in	O
2005	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
agreed	O
to	O
give	O
favored	B-Application
placement	I-Application
to	O
content	O
from	O
AOL	O
throughout	O
its	O
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Benjamin	O
Edelman	O
,	O
an	O
assistant	O
professor	O
at	O
Harvard	O
Business	O
School	O
,	O
claims	O
that	O
Google	B-Application
has	O
"	O
hard-coded	O
"	O
bias	O
in	O
the	O
algorithm	O
it	O
employs	O
to	O
generate	O
its	O
OneBox	O
results	O
which	O
are	O
shown	O
usually	O
at	O
the	O
top	O
when	O
a	O
query	O
can	O
be	O
answered	O
quickly	O
or	O
a	O
direct	O
link	O
can	O
be	O
given	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Edelman	O
,	O
states	O
that	O
in	O
such	O
cases	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
services	O
such	O
as	O
Google	B-Application
Finance	I-Application
receive	O
preferential	O
listing	O
over	O
more	O
popular	O
finance	O
sites	O
such	O
as	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
