Sites Become Dependent On Google
from the the-Google-gateway dept
Lots of talk about Google today. At Supernova, Dave Winer made a big stink about how Google has created its own monopoly nowadays, and if you're not at the top of the Google ranks, then you're virtually blacklisted. It seems that some businesses even rely on Google for a large percentage of their business and are deathly afraid of the day when Google rejiggers their index, dropping them down a few (or a few hundred) spots. I can understand why these folks might be upset, but I'm not sure they have a real right to complain about much. It's really their own problem that they're basing their business model on another company that they have absolutely no control over. If they stay relevant to the search terms, then they'll stay near the top of the rankings. Otherwise, they don't deserve to be there. The article also suggests, though, that as big companies discover the power of high Google ranks, they'll start doing some Google ranking optimization of their own, pushing out the small guys. Sergey Brin is supposed to be speaking at Supernova tomorrow, and I'm sure this issue will come up from the crowd. Should be interesting to see what he has to say.
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