Failing Newspapers Lobby Google for Special Treatment

March 25th, 2009 by Chris

Many publishers resent the criteria Google uses to pick top results, starting with the original PageRank formula that depended on how many links a page got. But crumbling ad revenue is lending their push more urgency; this is no time to show up on the third page of Google search results. And as publishers renew efforts to sell some content online, moreover, they’re newly upset that Google’s algorithm penalizes paid content.

Some newspapers (or other content providers) required paid subscriptions to see their content, if so, they don’t deserve high rankings. They can pay for advertising if they want.

Many major media sites are incredibly search engine unfriendly, it is their fault for not fixing that.

Finally, have they never heard of Google News? Google News lists mostly major media sources, and lists information timely. Additionally, a few headlines are almost always included in regular Google search results.

Meanwhile, failing newspapers are also seeking a bailout from the federal government.

Darwin at work, lets hope. These companies want to hold a monopoly on content and as is so very typical of their ilk rather than competing on a level playing field they’d rather silence critics or manipulate the system to their benefit.

If the rule in business is adapt or die, these businesses that haven’t adapted need to die.

I would be, incredibly upset, if Google were to alter their algorithm to give special placements to some ridiculous arbitrary “premier partner” group.

Google’s algorithm is the ultimate free market, and if there is anything monopolistic companies hate its a free market. Thats where so many people get things wrong, many big corporations hate free market capitalism because it lowers the barrier of entry for new competitors and increases innovation. Restrictive markets with high barriers to entry allows the big corporation to maintain their dominance without really working at it.

I’m hoping the people at Google are smart enough to know better than to fall for this.

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization » by: Chris

One Response to “Failing Newspapers Lobby Google for Special Treatment”

Dan Schulz Says:
March 26th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I agree Chris, and would be equally upset if they were to make such a concession.

However, I have a very bad feeling that they may end up doing this on SOME level just to placate some of the whiners and cry babies.

That being said, I definately sense quite a business opportunity for some aggressive and savvy SEOs who may want to work with the newspaper companies in order to fix their underlying problems (like they’d ever let that happen).