Google Bows out of the “Bidding for Addicts” Business
As addiction has grown, so have for-profit rehab centers, from those sponsored by massive corporations to little fly-by-night endeavors. Many of them, to judge by recent research, are severely substandard. To compete with each other for the attention of desperate people seeking help, they advertise online, and Google’s AdWords program is a key part of that, making sure their names pop up at the top of the screen when addicts search for terms like “drug rehab” and “alcohol treatment centers.” Competition has hiked the prices for ads on these keywords as high as $70 per click, but that’s nothing compared to the thousands of dollars that a 30-day stay from an insured patient can bring to a clinic...