@TheGooner 170502 wrote:
Interesting debate BB1WEBS
:hattip:I’m just surprised that experienced affiliates believe that Google (or any other search engine) is some sort of benign service created for good. They’re vast business enterprises – at last count Google’s shares were $470+ each and the company was capitalised at around 148 Billion US dollars.
Google doesn’t say that it’s free or not for profit – indeed with money like that invested you can be assured that google is gouging money from nearly every endevour.
Like most affiliate sites the search engines do not charge surfers/readers when they visit and so it’s only making money at the other end, depending on what you click on.
(Just as affiliate sites only list programs that they have a contract with)
The idea that Google has weightings that reward Google adword rich content can’t be a major shock … why do you think so many naff blogs score so highly in the rankings … it’s that little sidebar of ads that does it.
Likewise Google gives itself and it’s many offshoots a PR of 9, despite the fact that it’s usually a contentless hole, again do you think that’s really justified?
In the end Googles algo is very complicated, it had better be to justify all the hype that they have made about it, but I am sure that there are several steps where “commerical” factors can be added to the weighting such as “is it ours?”, “does it have adwords?”, and “does it use adwords?”.
The content will still be relevant, but preferential ratings will push up relevant content that is ALSO likely to be profitable. That’s not corrupt – it’s business. At least in my opinion.
(Affiliate example – two casino sites suit a reader and they’re almost identical – one pays 10% more than the other – so which one do you push?)
Let’s face it – if Google doesn’t do this then they’re missing a pretty obvious money-making trick right? Free services are usually paid for by adverts.
You want a truely independant search engine? Then it’s about time you started paying a small fee for every search. Say 1c a time? Then with a paid service you might have a legitimate beef about true independance.
Before Google went public they were to say the least “very cool”. The Adwords setup was a mere $5 bucks. Yahoo/Overture $50 bucks but you got cpc credit for it. However the cost per click was rather high.
Plus Google didn’t have the bidding on keywords like Yahoo/Overture did until they went public. It became a bidding war to get the first, second or third ad position. You could also pay a premium per click and have your ad placed on certain target sites. Now they have to answer to the stock holders which changed their business model somewhat. I also think they cut down the amount they pay those in their Adsense program. Before the bidding I used to get monthly checks from them, now it takes 2-3 times longer to get the minimum payout.
Google does hire the best people, taking about 11 hours in total interviews just to get hired. Lunch is always free for all employees as well. Many Google employees take lunch back to their desk instead of going out for 1-2 hours. The cost of the free food is less than the lost production.