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Goofy Goings on at Google
By Jim Hedger, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.
March 7, 2005
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Google can be seen as one of the great magic-mirrors of the Internet,
reflecting vast sections of content back to its users based on their immediate
interests as stated through their searches. The existence of magic makes
for an interesting and often spiritually laced discussion that is best
held outside the realm of business. A mirror, on the other hand, is a
physical object that, at least once in its existence, was treated as a
commodity. If you break it, you've bought it, and we all know the mystical
fate that befalls those unfortunate enough to break mirrors.
This is what makes Google's recent behaviour so mystifying. Why would one
of the world's most important companies, which enjoyed one of the best corporate
reputations ever established, take such serious risks with its credibility?
Is Google, as a mirror, cracked, or is the gild simply wearing off the back
leaving a barren transparency of well-cut glass?
Google has attracted a lot of attention over the past six years, the vast
majority of it being positive endorsements of Google's extraordinary search
capabilities and the simple elegance of the AdWords/AdSense contextual delivery
system. For the past two weeks however Google has received scant praise
and a great deal of criticism, some of which is seeping out of the Net and
into the real world. Two issues have dominated and a third is brewing in
the background. Webmasters inherently dislike the auto-links feature included
in Google's new toolbar. This anger might account for a lack of comment
from webmasters on a recent article in which investment analysts publicly
speculate Google is a risky one trick pony. To top off a bunch of bad press,
the SEM analyst community over at ThreadWatch has caught Google using SEO
tactics that violate its own Webmaster Guidelines, the document many base “SEO
Ethics” on.
Trust and the Art of Alteration
Google operates the world's most popular search engine that is used more
often by more people than either of its major rivals, Yahoo or MSN. Hundreds
of millions of people type Google's URL every day when seeking products
or information on the Internet. Its users have come to expect fast and
relevant results and are apt to trust Google to deliver them an honest
listing of sources from the Web. This is what Google does best and their
popularity makes them a “trusted-source” for each of those
searchers. Very few of those users would ever expect Google to knowingly
and actively alter the information expressed on websites found through
its vast index. The auto-links feature of their new tool-bar does exactly
that.
It has been two weeks since the introduction of the third (beta) version
of their popular tool bar. Google, one of the most known and loved brand
names on the Internet is quickly burning bridges with the webmaster community
as, it pushes forward with the auto-linking feature embedded in the toolbar.
Literally hundreds of well known search marketers, writers, forum contributors,
bloggers and independent webmasters have condemned auto-links. This feature,
in case you've missed the controversy, will automatically add links to a
website viewed while using the toolbar, without the permission of the original
site designer or site owner. While the auto-link feature is designed to
activate by a limited number of triggers such as an ISBN number (link to
that ISBN at Amazon.com) of a book or a street address (link to a generated
Google-Map for that address), content creators around the world are furious.
Some see this as the thin edge of a wedge that could put independent operators
effectively out of business while others fear expansion of the current feature
or even worse, adoption of the concept by rival search firms.
The controversy has not yet spilled over into the mainstream media, however
it has become a dominant issue in the SEM world, spurring a widely circulated
petition,
dozens of Blog entries, the creation of Auto-Link
busting code, and this
angry but humorous 12-minute video. It is no longer a matter of “if” the
mainstream media covers this story but “when and how” it covers
it. Google knows it has a problem with the auto-links feature however, the
real world sometimes demands we choose between two evils. Google's other
big problem is found in the mainstream world and it could spell evil for
investors and stock valuations. Google was called a one-trick-pony. Ouch...
A One Trick Pony?
The other day, respected investment analyst Charlene Li of Forrester
Research called Google a “one-trick pony”. Google generates
almost all of its revenues from paid-search through the AdWords and AdSense
programs. For almost a year it has reached out to Fortune1000 companies
in a bid to entice them into buying more ad space but at the beginning
of March could only boast about 230 clients from the world's top 1000
corporations. In the eyes of the investment community, dependence on an
ad-model that only 23% of the Fortune1000 buys into marks a major weakness
in Google's revenue chain. Being a “one-trick pony” might
not be a bad thing if your pony's trick is consistently winning races.
As Motley Fool editor Rick
Aristotle Munarriz wrote, “It's true
that Google is riding a one-trick pony when it comes to paid search --
but it's such a nimble jockey.” That thinking only works in optimal
track conditions of course. Forrester Research projects a slip in the
growth rate of paid-search advertising this year from the 45% growth seen
last year to about 30% in 2005.
Coupled with the growing webmaster discontent as outlined above, the track
Google's “one-trick pony” runs on may be getting worn and rutted.
Even the most nimble jockey needs to take great care when running on a difficult
track.
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
(But who is to guard the
guards themselves?)
Juvenal 160
A.D. The growing discontent felt by webmasters who depend on Google listings
was heightened today with the discovery that Google may use tactics it
punishes others for. The highly popular ThreadWatch.Org posted several
proofs of
Google using cloaking and keyword stuffing on pages originating from
the Google domain. Cloaking is the dark-art of serving one version
of your site
to visitors and another to search engine spiders. In its Webmaster
Guidelines Statement, Google states quite clearly: “Don't employ
cloaking or sneaky redirects.” Check out the titles in the two examples
of the same Google AdWords page cited here: Visitor
View | Cloaked
View
Cloaking is considered deceptive, especially when used in conjunction with
another dark-art SEO tactic, keyword stuffing. Take a second look at the
titles used on the two example pages listed above. The overuse of the word
traffic (traffic estimator, traffic estimates, traffic tool, estimate traffic),
in the title is blatant SEO spam and is considered punishable by banishment
from Google's index. At least that's what we have been telling StepForth
clients for years. We have seen Google ban sites that used cloaking and/or
keyword stuffing and have helped clients get their sites back into the Google
index after suffering such fate. For SEOs who wished to follow the “ethical” path
as defined to a large degree by Google's Webmaster Guidelines, seeing Google
use these tactics is like watching your Boy-Scout leader hot-wire a truck.
When the “black hats” in the sector are done howling with laughter,
it is only a matter of time before they start to use similar tactics again.
After all, Google does it.
Conclusion
Some mystics say our lives evolve in seven-year cycles. Larry and Sergey
have had an amazing seven years since they first devised Google's predecessor, “ BackRub”.
Perhaps their psychic pendulum is swinging away from guaranteed success
or, perhaps they are simply making a series of really dumb decisions
in Mountain View. Regardless of the reasons, Google is playing fast and
loose
with its own reputation and in an environment as image conscious as ours,
that behaviour is not only dangerous, it is potentially deadly. On the
Internet, you are always one click away from oblivion. With Yahoo, MSN,
and Ask Jeeves
doing as much or more for their loyal users than Google, one wonders
where the tipping point lays.
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