On October 18, a Google search was displayed on my computer displaying the emoji with the words: “Birthday Birthday,” and four other queries about the same birthday in my name. The cursor touched the words, and there was the picture of a man with a mustache and a tear in his eye. The obtuse riddle appeared in the display URL in black and white. A rabbit tail was turned backwards on the computer screen. You asked me what happened to your child, and I said “Humbug,” so you knew I didn’t approve of the hoax phone call.

Why would Google Search display an emoji to my screen when it had nothing to do with my search? I call it the honeycomb question because of the rainbow effect of the bed. The question arises whether the search from Google was an act of advertising. The appropriate term to use is “counter-ad,” which is a term in Google’s AdSense software program.

Google AdSense is a program that provides graphical advertisements within Google Search results. Google AdSense utilizes Google’s proprietary algorithms to present an appropriate selection of advertisements. Google earns revenue from “advertisers” who purchase text ads on the basis of the search terms they present in the search results. The search results displayed in Google Search all utilize Google’s automated algorithms.

Some advertisers will create ad campaigns with the keywords that are relevant to the search term of the query. Search advertisers create keywords, and advertisers that prefer an image or video campaign may also create ad campaigns. For example, consumers typically search for beauty products. An ad campaign created by a different company may have an image or video presentation about that type of product. In these cases, advertisers may use the search keyword of the phrase they are trying to portray a product. The advertising campaign could be placed in ad lists above the paid search advertisements. Therefore, Google searches served via an AdSense campaign could generate advertisement results in the search results that are unrelated to the search term.

If the ad campaign is a counter-ad campaign or the search advertisements reflect alternative search terms, the counter-ad campaign is advertising. Counter-ad campaign are presented to the viewer at a counter, which is made to appear large, so consumers will have to further select the counter to complete the link. Google provides a FAQ regarding the term: “Counter ad is a genuine traffic flow that remains separate from your organic search results. You can choose to have counter ads appear in different sizes and in different places on your page and YouTube site.” This is because counter ads may serve as a public embarrassment to a business or a person.

Google advertisers choose to upload advertiser information to the AdSense site. An advertiser who chooses to upload advertising information to the site must include advertising data about the ad campaign. The ad by definition is a paid advertisement. An advertisement must have a text description or a tag that outlines the content of the ad. In advertisements, a tag can be used to highlight relevant terms in text. This can be an interesting section of the ad where a customer or a visitor might find out about the advertisement on the website of the advertiser. An ad that has a tag can take up a small portion of the ad. Companies that upload their advertisement information can manage which keywords are displayed on the ads. If the advertiser makes changes to their search results or website, Google may use the changes.

According to the FAQ: “Properties such as fonts and images are used to allow advertisers to better display their ads in different locations.” Think of the ad like a mirror. There are certain parts of a mirror that are going to look different than another part of the mirror. Google Search allows users to upload advertisements to create counter-ads that are different than the ones displayed in Google results. When searching for someone’s birthday, Google Search and counter-ads might display an ad about the birthday and others about the day or the place, for example. This may seem meaningless in the long run, but in the moment the counter-ad is displayed, the ad might touch the viewer and affect their emotional state, perhaps causing curiosity to engage with the counter-ad and then continue further to the Bing or AdWords ad.

Did Google Search create a counter-ad? It depends on the ad. How in the world would you know this? Because Google deletes content if the user ends up viewing an illegal advertisement. If Google is creating a counter-ad to you, you can check with the feedback option of the AdSense page.

Liz Schrantz is a freshman in the School of Mass Communication. Her Twitter handle is lschrantz.