Your Confidence in Google?

by 15 replies
18
For the past few weeks/days I've really started to develop an extreme disliking for Google and the way they do business.

Let's go over the PRO's and CON's of this Fortune 500 business.

PRO's:
#1 search engine in the world
Youtube
great email service

CON's:
-deindex/penalize sites on a whim, without providing any explanation
-worst customer support ever
-constantly changing algorithms and effectively bankrupting legitimate (and illegitimate) business's overnight
-mass banning of adsense/adwords accounts
-dozens of failed products
-hypocritical ("don't post ads above the fold, while we put ads above, beside, under, in between every freaking search result)
the list goes on and on ...

If ANY other company did stuff like this people would be picketing in the streets! The reason they can get away with this is most "normal" people have no idea what is going on. Only us marketers see first hand the uncontrollable behemoth that Google really is.


This post may be a bit extreme, it is 2:30 am here , but all I keep reading about is Google screwing over everybody by deindexing, banning, etc and I feel like there is just nothing we can do about it. Maybe this will get some people thinking, or at least spark some discussion about ways to branch away from Google because basing your business on them is like playing Russian roulette.
#search engine optimization #confidence #google
  • At the end of the day, I am happy that Google turned SEO into a real occupation that can still make quite a nice living. Sure, I don't like some of the things that they do. SEO is all about adapting. Besides, the whole SEO thing. I still think that they are a business that still delivers the best search results. You gotta love free services like gmail and Google docs.
  • It's not us having confidence in Google. It's Google having confidence in us.
  • Google has one goal. To provide the best results to match their user's search queries.

    People take it too personal when the way that Google determines that criteria goes against their site.

    As for bankrupting companies overnight? I have yet to see a site get deindexed or have its rankings hit where there was not a reasonable explanation and the fault lay directly at the feet of the owner of the site or someone they hired.

    You are wrong here. The reason they can get away with it is that most "normal" people are completely fine with Google attempting to improve the search results, and in many cases would even applaud the strides they have made to do so. The only people that have a problem with it are marketers trying to manipulate the algorithm unsuccessfully.
    • [1] reply
    • Actually that's close - but not quite accurate. Google wants to make the most money it can for its shareholders. It gets most of its income from advertisements. To sell ads, you need usage. To get usage, you provide best possible results to match the user's search queries.

      The end result is the same, the path to get there is just a little different.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
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  • I actually love what Google has done, but I come at it from a purely white hat SEO. I used to work at Beanstalk SEO as the Director of SEO, and I used to hate people that used link wheels, blog reviews, and all those blackish tactics because they would outrank websites that deserved to rank. All they are really doing is enforcing their guidelines that have been out for a long time.

    That said Google is still so easy to game even with Panda 3.4, you just have to read between the lines. Build less links, but build stronger ones, and make sure at least 50% of your anchor text is related to your brand (your brand, your brand inc, etc). Remember that the latest update only affected under 2% of all queries, and given the number of SEO companies out there than mainly black hats were penalized.
    • [1] reply
    • You're preaching to the choir here...It's very clear that Google has tossed out their "do no evil" strategy. Anyone who thinks their mission is to "give the best search results" is delusional or just hasn't been paying attention...

      Can't wait for the next search engine to come along and de-crown the king...it's always happened, and now that Google has seemingly lost their way, they've opened themselves up to attack.

      Duck Duck Go maybe? We'll see...
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  • Google is like the roman empire once the fanboys pull their collective heads out of their asses google will fall rather quickly.

    As it is if google cant make its social product work it will be an afterthought within 5 years and be solely defined by youtube. The day is going to come when youtube is what is keeping their doors open and probably sooner that most people think.
  • The problem with google is that they are unpredictable. Google will drop you pages or remove you from adsense without any warnings. With google, you can go to sleep making $10,000 a month and make $0 the next month.
  • Google are their for the average person searching for something (among other things), they are not there for IM'rs whose sole purpose is to manipulate them.

    If you showed an average searcher the changes Google had made, they would say 'yeah, thats look good, nice work'..They're the people Google are there for, yet it's just IM'rs who moan because they make it harder for us to manipulate them!

    Google owes us nothing, if you want to play with them to make money then play it, but be prepared to adapt and make changes when Google changes things that they think will be better for the average search goer, they are there to bring the best results for them, and it upsets IM'rs because their manipulation attempts often come undone after an update, which is what Google wants, then you get loads of people hating on Google, but truth is, Google is going nowhere, because for the average search goer thinks they are the bee's knees and their search engine brand is unstoppable if truth be told.

    If you have lost confidence in them then rank your pages on Yahoo and Bing and be done with Google, bet you don't.

    It's just people who try and swindle them that seem to have the problem.

    Funny that.
  • [DELETED]
    • [1] reply
    • Nah, that's not true...I've had 15 year old PR5 domains with amazing quality content, thousands of unprompted backlinks (from people who just backlinked to me because they like my site), that used no blackhat seo techniques of any kind get deindexed from Google for no reason.

      There is no rhyme, there is no reason...it's just the whim of some quality reviewer in India who can barely speak english. It's pretty amazing really... but people still buy into that "quality" nonsense.
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    Your Confidence in Google?

    For the past few weeks/days I've really started to develop an extreme disliking for Google and the way they do business. Let's go over the PRO's and CON's of this Fortune 500 business.