Search Engine News

Does Google Sell SEO Advice To High Paying PPC Advertisers?Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Monday, 19 of November , 2007 at 8:25 am

Scott Buresh at Medium Blue wrote a piece on Google’s pay per click services and whether or not they influence search results. It’s very interesting and enlightening article. Just a few tidbits are reprinted below:

It has long been rumored that Google will offer technical assistance in achieving better organic search engine placement to those who spend more for paid search results. I know for certain that these rumors are true in at least two instances. In fact, I actually have the minutes from one of these technical assistance meetings after the company met with Google engineers.

If this is true then it is certainly proof that Google does allow big spenders in its pay per click program to have access to the best information on search engine rankings. Is that fair? Google has long maintained that this doesn’t happen. Is it just a matter of time before rumors become an open secret that everyone talks about - the elephant in the room?

Unfortunately, this reality leaves an advertiser with a small budget for paid search at a disadvantage. If Google is willing to offer this secret perk to larger advertisers now, what might they do in the future? Offer price breaks to larger paid search spenders? Increase the minimum monthly spend to squeeze out smaller companies and please the larger ones? It certainly has the potential to become a slippery slope, and I am interested to see where it goes next.

So am I. Google should keep in mind that the same people who made it rise to the top of the search engine pile can also bring it down. In those days, Google’s popularity was powered by great search tools. If it ever becomes known that it is powered more by money than by search improvement then users without money but with tons of knowledge will go elsewhere. Other search engines are already getting a reputation for beating Google in some search areas (Ask.com, for instance). If Google thinks its current corner on the market is secure, they’d better think again.

I simply believe that they have played the underdog, anti-corporate card for too long, and that even if it has not outlived its usefulness, it has outlived its truthfulness. Google is now a huge multinational corporation that answers to its shareholders. To pretend anything otherwise is silly, but it seems that, for now at least, the charade will continue.

There’s no sense in pretending to be something they’re not. Google is a public company and they must answer to their shareholders. That is true. Oftentimes, as we have seen in the corporate world, shareholder interests are counter to the interests of customers or the public at large. Can Google balance those interests successfully? If not, don’t they think the rest of ought to know?

Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.

Sign up for the Brick Marketing Blog Newsletter!

searchengineoptimizationjournal.com