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Dan Adamo
Comp. Science 49S
Shivnath Babu
Discussion Report: Chapter 7 in The Search—The Search Economy
Introduction
In this chapter, Battelle discusses the power that Google holds over some Internet
based companies by explaining the effects of Google’s algorithm updates. Battelle
explains the reasons that Google must periodacilly update its algorithms by introducing
the concept of SEO’s (Search Engine Optimization) and affiliate websites. During
Google’s algorithm updates, Google must make a decision on what the intent of searchers
is. Through this decision making Google eliminates certain websites from its results.
Battelle refers to this as the Grey Area, because Google may be eliminating certain
results for its own invested interest.
The next section of this chapter discusses how paid search on the Internet has
shaped advertising, and Battelle looks into the future of advertising. Battelle also
discusses how search engines have shaped many industries, such as the music industry,
the news business, and local search.
The third and final section of this chapter discusses a problem Google had
encountered with Trademark Laws. Battelle goes in depth describing an encounter that
Google had with the American Blinds and Wallpaper Factory.
Google’s Algorithm Updates
Google periodically updates its algorithms, and they refer to this in the reading as
the Google Dance. Many factors go into the ranking of a website at Google, such as the
PageRank and the word proximity. Google updating its algorithms means that Google
shifts the importance of each factor. For example, say PageRank made up 60% of the
ranking system before, after an algorithm update PageRank may only account for 50%,
and other factors will receive more importance. As you can imagine, after these periodic
algorithm updates, different websites return different results. A website that was once in
the top ten results may longer be in the top 10, or possibly not even in the top 100 results.
Google updated its algorithm because certain SEO’s and affiliates, websites that redirect
potential customers to larger sites that have programs that pay for leads, were using spam
tactics to receive higher results, and therefore gain more traffic. Bogus websites were
being created, but because they had other bogus websites pointing towards them or used
invisible key words, these websites received high rankings. Google’s big algorithm
update in 2003, which came to be known as Florida, was aimed to eliminate these black
hat SEO’s and affiliates.
However, many honest SEO’s were caught in the crossfire of Florida. The
example Battelle uses in the book discusses Neil Moncreif, who started an intenet website
2bigfeet.com, which sold shoes sized 13+. Moncreif’s website received the majority of its
traffic from Google, because it was naturally in the top results for the query “big feet”.
Moncreif used no “black hat” tactics to improve its rank, but after Florida, his website
was not even in the top 500 results. As a result, Moncreif’s business suffered and
Moncreif went through a very tough time. Google did develop guidelines to help honest
SEO’s redesign their website so they could be accurately crawled, ranked, and indexed.
The Moncreif example was not a rare occurrence, and it displays the power that Google
has over many businesses that thrive on it.
Battelle discusses a “grey area” of the Google Dance. When Google updates its
algorithms it must decide the intent of the searcher. For example, if a searcher typed in
the query “digital camera”, Google must decide if the searcher wants to buy a digital
camera, or if the searcher is looking for reviews for digital cameras. Before Florida, the
majority of the top results were websites in which a searcher could purchase a digital
camera, but after Florida, the majority of results were review websites. As a result,
websites and companies that sold digital cameras were forced to buy AdWords, an
advertisement displayed on the right side of the result page. This led many to question
whether Google tweaked its results for its own self-interest, so the company can make
money through their AdWords. The answer to this question is not known.
The Internet’s effect on Advertising
Paid advertising on the Internet, such as AdWords, has shifted the marketing
model from one based on content attachment to one based on intent attachment. Content
attachment is advertising that one stumbles upon with no intent, such as advertisements in
magazines or pop-up advertisements on the Internet. Intent attachment is advertisements
that one intends to click on, such as AdWords advertisements. In the future, Battelle
believes that content attachment and intent attachment will cross paths, and give a
potential example about how this will happen through search engines and DVR’s
merging. It is believed that advertising in the future will reach a level where advertisers
will not be worried about who they are paying to display their advertisements, but will
only care about the return of investment.
Search engines have also shaped many industries; such as the music industry, the
news business, and local search. Napster and many other music downloading
applications, such as Limewire, are basically search engines for music. The news industry
has also been affected by search. Many believe that it is more convenient to view the
news through the Internet, rather than paying for a newspaper. In fact, Google even has a
news application called Google News. This is affecting the news industry because once
popular newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal are losing many readers to the
Internet. Such newspaper companies require a paid-subscription to view their website,
and many people do not want to pay to view the news when they can view it for free
through many other websites. Battelle has a solution to solve this problem. He proposes
that if websites like the Wall Street Journal’s allowed deep-linking, which means that
other websites can link into articles on their website, then people would view certain
material on the Journal’s website and become interested and eventually pay for a
subscription. Another industry that the search industry has affected is the Local search
industry. Many people would rather search on the Internet to find a phone number or
address for a local restaurant then dig through a humongous book. Now that the Internet
is becoming available on many cellular phones, people can search the internet when not
at a computer.
Google’s Problem With Trademark Laws
The American Blinds and Wallpaper Factory was a successful blinds and
wallpaper factory. The company had a website to help promote itself over the Internet.
The website was so successful that it had trademarked the term “American Blinds”. The
American Blinds and Wallpaper Factory decided to purchase AdWords for the term
“American Blinds” to help advertise through the Internet. However, the company
discovered that their were other companies that had purchased the same query from
AdWords; in fact, American Blinds company was not even at the top of the results. The
company was very upset with Google because they thought that trademark laws should
apply to AdWords as well, and Google disagreed. American Blinds decided to file a
lawsuit against Google, as did many other companies for the same reason. Google argued
that they allowed companies to purchase trademarked words on “AdWords” to better
their search results. One lawyer for the American Blinds company decided to search
“American Blinds” on Google during this matter, and discovered that the query had
disappeared from the natural results and only appeared on AdWords. He called others
throughout the country to try the same search, and it turns out that their results were
different. This led the lawyer to believe that Google intentionally fiddles with its results
for its own self-interest. The case was resolved in 2006, and Google won.