A frequently asked question right? It’s one of the most debated questions on the Internet. Whether or not to trust Google. Even though it seems very silly to be asking such a question, there definitely is “something” that makes people ask it time and again.
Google is quite notorious for it’s double-talks and grey stories. If you read through the Google guidelines and TOS, I admit they are very strict on the rules but at the same time, Google leaves loopholes at many places. As you know, a common practice in the corporate world is “either convince or confuse”. Google does the same at many instances.
Take for instance Matts declaration some time ago on it’s stand on link buying. Google had declared recently that it does not want webmasters to buy links to boost SE rankings.
And Matt said -
“Users don’t want to see results sorted by who has the biggest pocketbook.”
Meaning, Google does not want websites to rank higher than others just because they can afford to buy links.
A very good thought there. But in fact, just like numerous “double talk” strategies from Google, there is a contradiction here too.
Michael Gray brings up this issue to limelight here. He asks -
If users don’t want to see results sorted by who has the biggest pocketbook..Why does adwords have premium placement above organic SERP’s?
That’s not an easy question to answer. Is it?
Google allows ad placements right at the top of the search results page. So according to Michael’s argument, doesn’t that mean a guy with heavy pocket can easily make it to the top? ( Forget buying links!! )
To this, Matt replies -
Michael, there are plenty of instances where we could promote right-side ads up (and make more money in the short term), but we don’t because our relevance criteria.
Huh?? Matt is talking all grey here. He is talking about the right hand side ads (adwords) while Michael is talking about the ads on top of the results. And what relevance criteria is he talking about here? When there are paid ads appearing right on top of the natural results?
I think this is a classic example of Google’s double talk. A good find from Michael.
Marko Novak | October 4th, 2007 at 11:38 am #
I don’t think we’ll ever know what exactly are guys from Google talking about. I don’t think they ‘ll neither.
Kevin | October 4th, 2007 at 7:27 pm #
I don’t think it’s healthy for the internet to have one company which is the biggest provide of search results and which is also the internet’s biggest advertising company.
Mani Karthik (Post Author) | October 5th, 2007 at 2:31 am #
Your point makes sense Kevin. Agree totally on it.