Once Again, You Cannot Sue Google Just Because Your Ranking Sucks
from the a-reminder dept
This isn't the first time we've discussed similar lawsuits, but it appears that Google has avoided yet another lawsuit from a website owner angry over a bad site ranking within Google's search engine. In the past, the arguments that disgruntled site owners have used included that Google has no right to change a site's ranking unless that site does something illegal and the really extreme suggestion that Google is "an essential facility" and as such cannot move sites around without giving the site owner some recourse. The latest case takes yet another strategy, claiming that Google's website submission page is somehow a binding contract, and dropping a site's rankings is a violation of that contract. For obvious reasons, that seems like a difficult position to defend, something that Google's lawyers appear to have explained to the site owner. Those same lawyers also appear to have pointed out that they might file an anti-SLAPP motion to get the case declared frivolous (and put Google's attorney fees on the guy). Not surprisingly, the site owner decided it was best to just drop the case. Either way, this highlights an old issue. From a business owner's perspective, it's your responsibility not to become too dependent on a single supplier. Basing your entire business on your great Google rank is extremely risky -- and if your only backup strategy is to sue Google for not ranking you higher, it suggests that your business strategy needs a pretty massive rewrite.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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People are stupid and will never learn
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Re:
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Politics
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Re: Politics
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Re: Politics
The normal search results aren't affected by money at all.
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other suits
The sad part is, it's not even a term we optimized for..
we explained to him how search engines work, but apparantley he's still looking for legal action he can take..
It's quite amusing actually.
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Re: other suits
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Re: Re: other suits
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And on the politics. I'm not complaining about Google. I'm just saying in an ideal world, which will never happen. Personally I would rather have to search a little harder then have to pay for all of the wonderful stuff that Google offers.
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Clueless
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Re: Clueless
I once designed a site for a client. Disregarding my advice on their domain name, they insisted on "atozdigitalembroidery.com" because they thought that they would 'come first' in the digital embroidery listings. Believe me, we went around and around about this. Me, trying to explain that a search engine in no way resembled a telephone book, and them insisting that I do it their way because they were paying me to do so. I did my best to optimize the site around that 21 letter domain name...
I don't know what finally happened to their site. I washed my hands of the project as soon as the site was up. The only way they got a 'top ranking' was if you searched for their site by the exact domain name. I still don't think they get it.
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time to start learning...
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Is this ridiculous?
Sorry, I don't believe for an instant that Google is benevolent and does no evil. They are a money making engine, money gives power, and power corrupts. Google wants websites to pay more to get higher ranking, period.
Perhaps the intention or purpose of the lawsuit is in error, but I think that people should scrutinize Google's business practices and decide if this is some form of blatant extortion. Pay up or we will drop your rank.
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Re: Is this ridiculous?
Other than those links, your ranking on Google has nothing to do with how much you pay to Google... it does have to do with how much you pay your Web developper or how much you paid your 3rd party Web Development service to take care of your search engine submission and optimization.
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not ridiculous at all
Google does this sort of thing. Believe it.
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Re: Is this ridiculous?
The more users Google can get, the more people will want to participate in their PPC program (Adwords)
To get more users, you have to have the most relevant search results. While refining your algorithms, you are going to see shifts in rankings. Is is that strange to see a site move 10+ spots when there are 10,000,000 pages out there about the same topic? Even a small shift in algorithm could cause that small a shift.
As for the relevance of the Adwords, google has recently added a crawler that ONLY checks the landing pages for adword ads, to ensure that they are meeting quality standards.
In no way is what they are doing "Pay up or else"
Get your facts straight.
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Re: Is this ridiculous?
wanna talk about "pay up or else"? how bout you pay me or i won't stop talking about what a moron you are, how's that?
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I'm suing also
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re page rank
do you know how much it costs to advert anywhere??? It is freaken expensive.. i thank the ad gods thaqt google doesnt charge me simply for listing my lame site.
I figure these people werent in business before the internet and somehow thinks this is how life works
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India Tours, India Travel, South India Tours, Gold
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I like that answer
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Top google rankings
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Holidays in India
We specialize in tailor made private & group tours to India . Our tours are designed to provide you with exclusive holiday experience of your dreams, at a fair price. Our tours are based on extensive ground research refined through feedback from thousands of clients. HI Destination Management Pvt Ltd.
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free do-follow backlink provid high PR
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