BP Buys 'Oil Spill' Term on Search Engines

BP has purchased the specific words terms on online search engines so that users will be more likely to be directed to the oil giant's site when searching for terms including "oil spill", "volunteer" and "claims."

When a user types these words into the search engines, a "sponsored link" to BP's official page appears on top of the page, reports CNET.

"We know people are looking for those terms on our website and we're just trying to make it easier for them to get directly to those terms," a spokesman told Reuters.

While it is unknown how much BP is paying search engines like Google and Yahoo! for enhanced results, many are accusing the company of playing dirty pool.

"What it effectively does is that it bumps down other legitimate news and opinion pieces that are addressing the spill, Maureen Mackey, a writer on the Fiscal Times told the U.K. Telegraph.

BP denies that this is action is an attempt to draw away hits from other sites.

The most recent government estimates put the total amount of oil lost in the catastrophic explosion seven week s ago at 23.7 million to 51.5 million gallons, making it by far the nation's largest oil spill.