Recently there was a call for the government to regulate Google in terms of how the search engine displays results. The anonymous author of the post called for transparency in terms of how Google’s algorithm works. Reading the post, I became convinced that the author’s company had recently had some type of run-in with Google – which probably means they did something that was against Google’s TOS. Just like any 5-year old that gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, our anonymous author has started to throw a temper tantrum and scream “It’s not fair!”
In my years of experience with Google and SEO, if you follow generally good SEO practices and focus on the content of your site and how well it works for your visitors, you’ll have success. Yes, many people find you via a search engine, but in these days of social media, people are just as likely to find you elsewhere or be recommended by a friend (which is way more valuable than a search engine listing). But, having good content and creating a good website takes time and patience. Creating a place where people want to visit isn’t an overnight task.
I also think that Google is genuinely interested in creating results that match what people are looking for. They are constantly tweaking their algorithm to provide the best results for people. And they have to – if they don’t provide good results, people will just start using something else. By gaming the system, companies are trying to circumvent the rules that everyone else is playing with – and that just doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe it’s these violators and hack-SEO firms that need regulating…. (although I think Google regulates them by changing their algorithms so that the hacks no longer work)
If you can’t get a good position in the organic search results, you have the opportunity to purchase an ad. As the author stated, unlike a normal auction, the highest bid doesn’t necessarily win – you also have to be relevant to the keywords in question. This allows a level playing field where big companies can’t just buy their way into owning the entire Internet. Instead, small companies, which are providing more relevant content for the keywords in question, have a chance at reaching the same eyeballs as the big guys. This provides the best results for people who are using the search engine. Yes, this is in Google’s best interest because people will go somewhere else if the results are poor, but it’s also in all of our best interest.
In these days of economic crisis where the banking and real estate industries have failed us, when healthcare is a mess, when big companies seem to have the upper hand (as long as you’re not an auto company), when the environment is in danger, I think the government has much larger problems to deal with than trying to regulate a company that’s providing consumers with good products. Econsultancy Blog had a similar reaction, if you’d like some further reading.
What do you think?
(photo by i eated a cookie @ FlickrCC)
Technorati tags: SEO, marketing, google, internet marketing, business
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