On Wednesday I briefly mentioned Google's addition of a Google Checkout filter on the search results pages at Google.com and the big advertisement on the main Google start page for the service.  When users do a search for certain products, a link appears in the OneBox that allows you to view only merchants who use Google Checkout.

Many in the blogosphere and elsewhere cried foul at the blatant manipulation of the search results which directly violate Google's stated policy of never tampering with search results.  And the Checkout advertisement on the main Google start page was so obvious and undeniable "unfair" that many began to question Google's trust factor.

I noticed today that the big advertisement on the main Google start page has been removed.  Apparently Google got the message that many didn't find the advertisement appropriate.  But the Google Checkout filter is still appearing in some product OneBoxes on the Google SERPs.  Maybe those are here to stay, regardless of the response Google gets from them.

But as an article at the Napa Valley Register points out, reputation might not be the only thing getting a dent from Google's Checkout initiatives.

According to several analysts quoted in the article, Google has likely spent a significant amount of money on promotions and marketing for the new service.  Almost since the day it was launched, Google has offered shoppers "free money" to use the service.  During the holidays Google paid up to $30 of a customer's bill at participation merchants that used Google Checkout.  And the search company has given merchants fee-free use of the service at least through 2007.  Google's attempts to usurp online payment leader PayPal have yet to pay off.  Research conducted by JPMorgan showed that only 6% of online shoppers were using Google's service compared to 42% who were using PayPal.

I don't like Google Checkout at all.  PayPal is much better solution.  But Google is promoting the heck out of Google Checkout and I think that it's hurting more than their bottom line.  We'll find out at the end of the month when Google reports its financial numbers for the quarter.  But I'm willing to bet that we see a decent amount of money lost the lackluster Checkout.

But I also agree with a lot in the industry that all of the promoting and filtering is hurting Google's reputation.  It seems that Google has been moving away from a lot of its founding ideals over the past few months.  I can't figure out what the thinking out at the Googleplex must be.  Sure, none of it surprises me at all.  But surely Google must realize that people aren't going to react favorably to these changes.  And how can they justify removing options from the customer has a "benefit"?  There are far fewer merchants using Google Checkout than there are using it.  So by adding links that remove all of the non-Checkout merchants from the list, Google is in effect filtering out a vast majority of the web.

Tell me, Google.  How does that benefit your end user?