How Google Can Make or Break A Small Business 352
securitas writes "USA Today's Jefferson Graham reports on how Google affects small business through its rankings and text ads. The feature describes how the fortunes of small companies turned when their Google ranking rose or dropped, as well as the effects of Google's paid search text advertising model. Search Engine Watch says that Google now performs an estimated 80% of the searches (200 million) on the Internet every day. The result is that Google has become a critical part of any online marketing strategy and has spawned a whole Google-optimization industry where consultants can charge $5,000 per site for tweaking. The feature is light on technical details but the stories of those who prospered and suffered due to Google make a good read."
Google Adwords (Score:5, Interesting)
I've bought a bunch of ads on Google, most recently for my startup, Findory News [findory.com]. Most web advertising is expensive, difficult to set up, and performs poorly. But, because you can pick such specific keywords with Google Adwords and the advertising engine refuses to show ads that don't perform well, you can easily get in front of people that might be interested in them.
Ah the good ol' feudal days have returned... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Google Adwords (Score:5, Interesting)
Google needs to tweak too (Score:5, Interesting)
are URLs that look like this:
Of course said page contains ads for something else or is just a redirect/popup trap.
Google really needs to use their mad skillz to counteract this. Their algorithm is being screwed by the same type of people who brought us BonziBuddy and all that other worthless shit on the web.
They came up with the best search engine - I'm sure they can stay on top. But I wonder if they've even noticed, given the massive amount of data they must deal with.
Re:Google Adwords (Score:5, Interesting)
In other words, if your webpage text contains a discussion about "intrusion detection systems" it is highly likely that your Google ad banner will have up to four different companies that sell such devices or software. The advantage is that the Webmaster can offer valid commercial links to his free discussion and often make 25-cents per click; the advantage to the retailer is that they have higher exposure and a greater chance of selling their product. The disadvantage to all of us, unfortunately, is that we're still stuck with banner ads long into the forseeable future.
Regards,
Search will be a commodity soon (Score:2, Interesting)
It seems that Google is also less concerned with search quality then before -- just compare their quailty with some of the newer, less heard of, engines. This leads me to conclude that Google's putting their efforts primarily into approaches where they see very large margins, such as content-based (adsense) advertisements.
Recommend Google Alternatives? (Score:2, Interesting)
Does anyone have recommendations to some good alternative engines? I used to use altavista, askjeeves, hotbot... but I don't remember the last time I got really useful results from them (maybe cuz I haven't used them for a couple years). What about those apps that you can download that search numerous engines?
It is interesting (scary?) to see how much a business can be affected by the algorithms and voodoo of an entity such as google. What I find about myself as well, is that if I am looking for a store or business that provides a certain good or service, I always go to google (or mytelus [mytelus.com], gag...) to search for it. I don't think I even go to any sort of specialty shops or businesses anymore unless I have found that they have a web site that doesn't repulse me. Anyone else find themselves falling into these sorts of habits?
Re:Google Adwords (Score:1, Interesting)
Trust in Google? (Score:2, Interesting)
I wouldn't even venture a guess as to the amount of web content that Google doesn't display, given its limitations.
searchers vs. searchees (Score:3, Interesting)
There's obviously been an arms race developing for a long time between the people running queries and the people with sites that might be returned by queries. Has anyone thought about what the likely endgame is? To me it seems possible that good impartial search engines are just doomed. How can you write algorithms that automatically read pages and determine their relevance to particular subjects in the face of web-page creators who will do anything to get ranked highly?
And it's not enough for your ranking method to be a little bit obscure or hard-to-understand; any search engine now has to face the prospect that the economy is capable of supporting smart poeple to work full time on figuring out how to break your ranking algorithm.
It's not hard to imagine a future where any search engine is either manually maintained (like the various web directories) or completely advertiser-run.
--Bruce Fields
Adwords -Clickbots (Score:4, Interesting)
Here is a paper [perlworks.com] describing my exchange with Overture on this issue. Summary of paper:
Since then I have determined by researching one of my own pay-per-click keywords is that Overture will filter out a client that has a cookie if it clicks more than once every 30 minutes.
Make or break? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Google needs to tweak too (Score:4, Interesting)
It was very difficult to find any actual information about this laptop (other than the marketing crap on the ProStar site) on which I had to perform maintenance. In the end, I gave up the search entirely and just relied on my instincts (which turned out just fine, thanks).
Is this the $5000 consultants trick? Buy up dozens of semi-related domain names, use a bit of XSLT to make them slightly different, and then tweak the content for your clients? Not only is this very shady, it is going to reduce the effectiveness of Google dramatically
How many businesses rely soley on search engines? (Score:3, Interesting)
Most businesses seem to use the web as an extension of their brick and mortar business. It's a place you visit when you need extended information on a company or a quick way to communicate with a corporate office.
Simply putting your site on your next batch of business cards will probably produce more relevant visits to your site than having every person who typed a word that happens to match with your advertising scheme with Google.
For instance, if I am going to do research on window curtains, I will probably hit up a few big brick and mortar store's websites, then go check out the products in person. Since the big corporations seem to be the only people running stores these days, it would seem that most people would know what is in their area without the assistance of the web (except for driving directions). Most folks would know Linens 'n Things, Bed Bath 'n Beyond, Riches, Target, Walmart, etc have such items and would not need to do a blanket search on Google for 'window curtains'.
Personally, when I do a search and see where a company obviously paid for their search location, I will rarely visit. I tend to assume they are just concerned about getting a bunch of hits for banners and redirection to sites I would have already visited on my own.
I know it's important to some web-only, small companies without a well-known name. But this is not something I would consider 'make or break' on a wide scale. It sounds more like a case of a small minority making a majority of noise over something they do not think is fair.
Re:Google Adwords (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess it's a matter of perspective, but I see it as a win for the consumer as well when they are brought together with a merchant who supplies them with something they really wanted or needed. The problem with banner ads in general is that they are usually huge spammy catch alls pimping products that no-one gives a shit about. Googles adwords go a long way towards fixing this problem, at least their ads are somewhat relevant to the subject at hand, whatever that may be....
Re:$5,000 per site (Score:3, Interesting)
It's probably stuff you already know, like filling pages up with keywords, generating link-farms, and such like. Thousands of domain names doesn't hurt either. Basically it's all junk, as you're selling access to someone else's resource, and any clients will end up pissed if google decides to change their algorithm and you've taken their money for nothing.
People have been asking for help with making their pages appear on Google, but my advice is always: just write a decent website - I don't want their crappy 3-page corporate brochure mucking up my search results.
Oh, and list the site on DMoz. That gets you the right targeted google searches fairly easily.
Re:Google Adwords (Score:2, Interesting)
Google versus Froogle (Score:4, Interesting)
- Searching for "Apple" while looking for information about the company, who is on the board, company history.
- Searching for "Apple" while looking for an iPod.
This is an extremely bad example, but the point is I think the problem that Google is running into is that the line between information or selling products is becoming too fuzzy. But I would say that both searches are "legitimate". In the least, the blurring of this line only serves to dilute the search results.
Maybe a solution would be to move all product/purchase type searches to Froogle and have Google return ONLY informational sites instead of sites that sell products (which seems inline with their original intent).
Re:Google Adwords (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe it's just me but lately I've found Google results to be a LOT less helpful. The last few times I've done a search ( for server configuration problems ), my search results have been mostly postings to web-archives of email groups. Usually, the information I need is not there but when it is, I have to sift through the threads on the topic of disussion to find what I'm looking for. I liked it better when google pointed me to a web page that had the information I needed.
Re:$5,000 per site (Score:5, Interesting)
Frankly, these small companies who are putting all of their eggs in one basket by relying so heavily upon Google are destined to fail.
Google did the re-ranking to encourage folks to both pay for Adwords AND to make a push for Froogle (which is free as in you don't have to pay for listings!!)
Its amazing how people who are getting something for nothing can bitch when that something turns into what they generally have to put into it - nothing.
SEO isn't rocket science and those who would pay $5000 for it have too much money in their budget. I have achieved #1 rankings without implementing half of what I could to boost them otherwise....
Re:Google Adwords (Score:3, Interesting)
Monopolies and humour. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Google Adwords (Score:5, Interesting)
> Small businesses with tiny marketing budgets can buy ads easily.
I've had different results with AdWords. I wanted to test the waters with it so I set a budget of $1.00/day and 5 cents per click. I was quickly disabled for having "too few clicks" so I increased it to 25 cents per click and had the ad re-enabled. Again, it was disabled because of too few clicks. Finally, I tried raising it to $1.00 per click and again had the same results. I'm not sure what you consider cheap, but paying more than $1.00 per click to get decent placement is not my idea of cheap. I can find better click-throughs elswehere for around 35 cents per click and not be charged $5 to re-enable my ad if it does too poorly. For a small business getting started, it's tough to pay than a dollar or two CPM. A thousand impressions with .5% CT rate doesn't add up to much business, and the money for those ads doesn't grow on trees.
I've had better click-throughs with Market Banker [marketbanker.com] or ads on Kuro5hin.
Re:Google Adwords (Score:3, Interesting)
This methodology on Google's part is a win/win. You don't end up with a useless ad that no one is clicking on and they don't end up serving ads people don't want to see.
Re:Google doesn't owe you a living... (Score:3, Interesting)
two words "driver library" (Score:3, Interesting)
I didn't pay for that. I just have a massive collection of drivers. My site consumes an 80GB harddrive and about 50% of that is drivers.
WinDrivers.com used to charge $50 a year for access to their collection which I remember because I thought it was so outragous. Now they charge $29.95 a year. Which is 5 cents less than I charge. However they still charge $5 for a day pass where I charge $1.
If you're looking for a specific file that Windows told you're missing and you type it in Google, my site will be top ranked if I have it. Sites like WinDrivers.com tend to ZIP up their files. I let them all hang out.
I'm also highly ranked on DirectX related things because I have practically every version of the SDK. And likewise, all the files are available indiviually. So looking for a specific file will result in my site comming up.
It's content that gets a site ranked high as well as the domain name, file name, and directory name.
I'm currently in the process of revamping the site which will probably kill me on Google for a bit as it reindexes everything but that doesn't take long.
You don't need to pay $5000 to get highly ranked. You just need some sense and a well designed web-site with stuff people would be looking for.
Slashdot isn't bad advertising either. Recycled Russian Brides was probably the most effective sig ad. I had a front page story once and a number of times I've written articles which have been posted on a major game development web-site. Free advertising in exchange for making something useful.
Ben
Re:Google does it right (Score:3, Interesting)