Google is a technology company OR wait.. Google is a media company that gives access to tens of billions of web based pages each day. Well this is a continuous debate which may not have a final answer. But as the impact of Google on business increases so does the value of being search-able and high up on the google first page. What works on the contrary though is when you are are a relevant provider but you still don’t figure in the top search results.
These results are a calculation of several factors like backlinks, titles, tags and browsability of you website. But yet again these metrics of evaluation of what gets features up and what doesn’t is controllled by Google. This seems to be causing legal issues for the search engine giant. According to this report Google has come under the legal scanner for fairness in search engine results. An investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s office into the fairness of its search engine rankings is taking place in the US.
This isn’t the first time google’s method of ranking websites has come under the scanner. Earlier the EU commission has also been in the news for scrutinizing the google way of indexing the sites after complaints from small website players. Google’s take on the issue is that as their business grows and its impact on the web its bound to face scrutiny from those who are affected. Google’s Deputy General Counsel Don Harrison stated in a blog post that its impossible for every website to be on the first page of google let along be the first result and he stated that it wasn’t a surprise that the low ranked website owners were upset.
Is Google Playing Big Daddy?
Google search results aren’t the best at all times and we all know that. Though the system they have put in place has lasted them over a decade. But with the rising popularity of the web the world over and consumer habits changing to using the web for all activities it is natural that this transition may hurt those businesses that aren’t google optimized so as to say.
Irrespective of what others may say I feel that google needs to add a layer of consumer feedback to its seach results so that the sole determinant is not an algorithm that can be gamed by SEO firms but also consumer feedback which looks at actual consumer experiences.
