Trying to Score Pills Online? Don't Bother with Google.

Who actually enjoys online advertisements? Most websites have random ads that are either too good to be true or just plain idiotic. To be fair, these ads have been a large source of revenue for online companies big and small.

Recently, Google GOOG has come under fire for posting ads related to Canadian pharmaceuticals. While the United States has harsh policies for cross-border drug transactions, deals between Canada and the US have not been as much of a priority for the Feds.

To learn more about this issue's implications on Google's stock price, Benzinga reached out to Aaron Kessler of ThinkEquity. According to Kessler, the "$500 million charge will not really impair the company's balance sheet." In fact, it is "doubtful that more investigations will occur, as Google complied in a timely fashion."

It is also not clear if other popular search engines such as Yahoo YHOO or Bing, which is owned by Microsoft MSFT, employed similar tactics as Google to raise advertising revenue. It is known, though, that Google has used questionable ads before the pharmaceutical matter. Google has introduced and repealed gambling advertisements several times on its website, on a global scale. While the firm never did anything illegal, the decision to use gambling ads may have been a precursor to the pharmaceutical ads.

Interestingly, Google has denied many international pharmaceuticals' attempts to advertise on the search engine's site. Google stringent criteria, however, allowed a few of Canadian companies that were accredited by the Canadian International Pharmacy Association to advertise on the site.

The FBI, however, did not take lightly to Google's ad campaign for the Canadian pharmaceuticals. In a recent SEC filing, Google claimed to have paid $500 million to the government for an undisclosed settlement. While Google has tried to "weed out bad players in advertising," it was clearly not enough for the FBI in 2011. Hopefully Google's tactics are not a sign of desperation in its attempt to maximize advertising revenue.