Google’s clarification of AOL’s announcement

Google says we can trust them.

I read the announcement.

Google doesn’t have to manipulate AOL’s search results. AOL properties already have a high PR. Shouldn’t AOL’s content come up first because the content is more relevant? AOL’s content legitimately comes up higher in results because it’s relevant. Users click on the results and see Google’s graphical ads on AOL’s properties. AOL and Google both make money. What I want to know (because Google did invest $1B in this deal):

  1. How will bloggers/webmasters be affected by this deal?
  2. How will advertising networks be affected by this deal?
  3. Why invest in AOL when Google should have been indexing their content anyway?