13. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with instructions that when executed by a distributed computing system cause the distributed computing system to perform operations comprising: receiving a search query; determining that a particular search result, from among a plurality of search results that are responsive to the search query, and a particular content item, from among a plurality of available content items, are both eligible to be presented in a same search results page; comparing content of the particular search result with content of the particular content item; determining that a same brand is presented by both of the particular search result and the particular content item based on the comparison of the content of the particular search result with the content of the particular content item; in response to determining that the particular search result and the particular content item both present the same brand based on the comparison, combining less than all of the particular search result and less than all of the particular content item into a combined content item, wherein the combination is performed based, at least in part, on content sponsor preferences for how to combine the particular content item with one or more search results, and wherein the combining includes combining a link from the particular content item with content from the particular search result; and providing, responsive to the search query, the combined content item as a single search result that is presented in a same search results page as other search results.
13. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with instructions that when executed by a distributed computing system cause the distributed computing system to perform operations comprising: receiving a search query; determining that a particular search result, from among a plurality of search results that are responsive to the search query, and a particular content item, from among a plurality of available content items, are both eligible to be presented in a same search results page; comparing content of the particular search result with content of the particular content item; determining that a same brand is presented by both of the particular search result and the particular content item based on the comparison of the content of the particular search result with the content of the particular content item; in response to determining that the particular search result and the particular content item both present the same brand based on the comparison, combining less than all of the particular search result and less than all of the particular content item into a combined content item, wherein the combination is performed based, at least in part, on content sponsor preferences for how to combine the particular content item with one or more search results, and wherein the combining includes combining a link from the particular content item with content from the particular search result; and providing, responsive to the search query, the combined content item as a single search result that is presented in a same search results page as other search results. 15. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 13 wherein combining less than all of the particular search result and less than all of the particular content item into the combined content item includes combining a visual universal resource locator (VisURL), a title, text from the particular content item and a link to a landing page from the particular content item into the combined content item.