For a Fee, Wind Up Atop the Search Heap By BOB TEDESCHI. New York Times (Jan 22) - It may be worth it to buy your own name at Google or Overture. Andrew Goodman of Toronto, an Internet marketing consultant and host of Traffick.com, does it to be distinguished by other Goodmans, dead or alive. Google lets people buy other people's name but not trademarked names. Overture will bar advertisers from buying other people's names.
"As Internet users seek to differentiate themselves from people who share their names, some are buying their way to prominence on Google, Yahoo and other search engines. The added exposure comes courtesy of keyword advertising, in which marketers - or common folk, for that matter - bid to have brief advertisements appear atop or beside search results whenever Internet users type in certain words. "