Google Exposed - SPREAD THE WORD

[meisje]

Only days before the holiday shopping season begins, Google has decided change the way it displays search results in favor of paid advertisers. Many small business owners have worked long and hard to gain top positions on the search engine, apparently all for nothing. Google has introduced a new search algorithm that targets select key words and then bans the businesses that used them, thus destroying any hopes of a profitable holiday. Why would Google do such a thing you ask, sponsored links (pay per click) and the coming IPO. Google will go public next year and higher profits mean higher stock prices. Proof of Google's scheme can be viewed by using a exploiting a bug in the search engines code. Enter a search at Google.com for something such as "flower delivery" or "flag cases" and view the results. If you think these are the results you would have received last week, you would be wrong. Now enter the exploit, type "flower delivery -googlegoo" or "flag cases -googlegoo" and you'll see all of the businesses that are now forced to pay big dollars for advertising or risk going out of business. While it is free to list a site on google and they make no guarantee that a site will be listed, to do this days before the holiday shopping season is nothing less than extortion. Some businesses have benefited from the shake up, Target/Marshall Fields and FTD are two examples. Google also owns the main search engine that supplies most of the other mega search sites such as Yahoo and AOL, listing on those pages are gone as well. Many of the stories from shell-shocked business owners can be seen at Google's own support forum:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general

A close friend of mine has lost 70% of his Internet traffic since Monday, he fears his small struggling business will soon go under.

[AP]

1. It's all geared for the big guy. If your friend tries direct email market-

ing, now he'll be nailed for spamming.

[SheilaT]

2. Well, for what my opinion is worth

I've never used google to find commercial sites of any kind. I'm actually more likely to use the old fashioned yellow pages, and of course companies have to pay to get into them.

And google has had the sponsored sites for some time now, several months at least that I've noticed them. I'm not sure I fully understand the problem.

Google is so new, that established businesses shouldn't be having problems. And maybe brand new businesses can find some other way to get out the word about themselves that's still free? But advertizing has always cost money.

I am sorry about your friend's loss of business, but we do live in a capitalistic system.

[JailBush]

3. You ain't seen nothing yet.

If Microsoft acquires Google, it would be like the last presidential election all over again. God help us.

[Nomad559]

5. Microsoft never talked to Google

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=137

In this USAToday article, Bill Gates claims that Microsoft never talked to Google about acquiring the search monster.

Microsoft has not had merger discussions with Internet search engine Google, as was widely reported, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says.

“We’ve never been in any talks with Google about any acquisition thing in any way, shape or form,” Gates told USA TODAY last week.

[lysergik]

6. Right.

And the sky is falling.

[JailBush]

8. The sky is falling?

Microsoft hasn't acquired Google yet. Or are you referring to George Bush, Inc.

[Old and In the Way]

4. I was looking for XP drivers for my digital camera the other night

I couldn't believe how many bullshit links I had to wade through before finding what I needed. Sure they all had "XP" "drivers" in their metatags, but just about everything was pages to buy cameras....

[Hawkeye-X]

7. here's drivers.com login and pw

login: drivers
password: all

And it foists off to where you need to get drivers...

Trust me. There's no reason to risk exposing your e-mail for spamming purposes.

Hawkeye-X

[Some Moran]

10. lol...I freepin have to sign up for a new one every time cuz I forget...

Never again. I engrained this into my head last week. :)

[0007]

17. I know what ya mean!

I was looking up a medical term and couldn't believe the bullshit links I had to go through. Information is going by the wayside, 'tis all about products.

[chascarrillo]

9. Looks like people seeking to exploit Google got rebuffed

From what I can see, Google has taken action against websites who basically exploited a bug in its alogrithm. The intent behind Google was to give people results based on the number of links from other sites. Crafty companies (and other folks) exploited this to make their websites seem more popular than they really are.

Why is it so horrible that Google closed this loophole?

[SahaleArm]

11. Google Bomb

Googles page rank algorithm is based on the number of external links to a particular page. The more links, the higher the rank.

http://www.microcontentnews.com/articles/googlebombs.htm

[Bundbuster]

12. Surely there must be a good alternative to Google

I'll admit I've been using google - mainly out of habit - but there must be some alternative search engines which steer you more objectively to your desired results. I'd appreciate suggestions from more savvy users than I. Thanks in advance.

[RandomUser]

13. Nonsense

Go here for an informative look at the issue. Here's a slashdot discussion by computer experts and enthusiasts.

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/11/26/1458203.shtml?tid=111&tid=126&tid=187&tid=95

Google is trying to close a loophole in their search engine, so put your tinfoil hats away. Google is not changing it to favor paid advertisers, but to get rid of people trying to game the system. Google changes their search engine regularly and periodically. It's called the "google dance."

If you think these are the results you would have received last week, you would be wrong.
That's the way it's suppose to work. That's why they call it the google dance. Google tries to stay one step ahead of the people trying to game the system and get their site at the top of the list for commercial reasons.

People try to game the system, and google counters by tweaking it, repeat and rinse every month or so.

[Robb]

15. Bingo

...sort of like getting ticked at the sat company when your pirate DishTV card don't work anymore. ;)

[SpiralHawk]

14. The Ministry of Information Control

is making sure that you know what you need to know (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

So move along now. Nothing to see here.

And remember as you masticate your government-certified, hormone-inflated ration of turkey meat, Big Brother Loves YOU.

[0007]

16. The big fish eat the little fish -

When the big fish can't eat no more we all get a big mushroom dinner---

Once upon a time a goose drink wine
A monkey spit tobacco on the street car line
The street car broke
The monkey choked
And we all went to heaven on a big fat billy goat

[Timefortruth]

18. I’ve been using AskJeeves lately.

It seems like they are more honest about their paid links, they do their searches in a different way so the results aren’t the same as with all the others. I also have a good feeling about their politics, don’t ask me why.

Google is definitely better for some things, but I never start there except for news.

on edit:

Here are some alternatives, or ways to find them:

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

http://www.ask.com/