ASK.com Uses Google For PPC Arbitrage

So I am doing some research today for a client's site and I come across an Adwords ad from ASK.com on the first page of Google spot # 8 just below the fold. I wondered why Ask.com would want to show me skin cancer photos when I searched for skin cancer. Maybe it was to get me to use their search engine like it says. I don't use ask.com so I figured I would click and see what they wanted to show me.




To my astonishment they displayed 10 sponsored results from Google with 3 small pictures!

I had to scroll a few times to hit the bottom of the sponsored section.



Is that really what you want me to see when your ad says "Get health questions answered now on ASK.com. Try it!"?

You answer my health questions with sponsored ads from Google, really? I just left that site for you to give me my answers like your ad said. Then you show me the top ads I just saw on the last page, that sounds like PPC arbitrage to me!

I thought maybe this is how all of their images searches are so I go to their home page and run an image search for skin cancer. I do not see any sponsored results until I look through a bunch of pictures. So it is only when you arrive there via Google adwords that you see 10 sponsored Adsense results and only 3 small pics.

Thanks for the great first experience. Now I understand why they are changing their model of trying to be a search engine back to answering questions again. They can just game Google with PPC arbitrage and rake in the loot.