samuelvictorsd: Google is killing the small business and giving them little hope to ...

Google is killing the small business and giving them little hope to compete online

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Google was built by the small business. To this day, most of their profits come from the aggregate of hundreds of thousands of small businesses that have small marketing budgets. Big businesses make up about 20% of their revenue. So given this, why on earth are they favoring big businesses, and screwing the little guy when it comes to organic search traffic? How are they doing this? By penalizing small businesses when they try to compete organically with the big guys.

Google is in control of over 60% of online e-commerce transactions. If you are not ranked on the first page of Google for your primary keywords, and you are a small business, you have little chance of being successful online. Without organic rankings, it will be near impossible to be profitable. The problem is, according to Google?s webmaster guidelines, you cannot really do anything that will give you a competitive edge over anyone. You are supposed to only do what is natural. ?Build your site and your marketing campaign to the user, the rankings will come?. That is completely false, if you are a small business.

The highlighted tactic that Google ?forbids? you to do is aggressive link tactics. You see, getting inbound links from other relevant sites still account for 60-70% of Google?s algorithm (Pagerank) weight, and if you want to rank for anything, you need a robust linking profile. Simply put, without links, you don?t rank. And as I stated before, if you don?t rank, you probably are not making any money.

They claim that website owners simply need to build good content which users will like. This will be enough for people to want to link to you, which Google will pick up on. This is great in Google fantasy land but to compete with the ever growing link profiles of large companies, spending millions a year on a good PR campaign, it wouldn?t matter if you wrote a Nobel piece prize winning novel, you still wouldn?t be able to compete.

http://www.dannydemichele.com/google-killing-sm/

Do you agree that Google is killing small businesses and gives little hope to compete online?

As Google Tweaks Searches, Some Get Lost in the Web

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Google Inc. recently tweaked the way its search engine ranks websites, seeking to downplay sites it suspects of artificially boosting their rankings. Now some small businesses say they are scrambling to avoid being relegated to the Internet's junk bin.

Among them is Andrew Strauss, the 47-year-old co-owner of San Francisco-based Oh My Dog Supplies LLC.

In the past, about 70% of his customers found his company from the results of Google searches, often for terms such as "dog beds" or "dog clothes."

Ever since Google's algorithm change at the end of last month, he says his website isn't showing up in Google rankings?at least not where most people would see it.

Traffic through Google has plunged by 96%, he says. Mr. Strauss expects his six-year-old business to generate sales of $25,000 this month, down from $68,000 in March, the month before the changes. "We're completely crippled now," he says.

Mr. Strauss thinks it's possible his site's rankings nosedived because he had paid for hundreds of inbound links in response to a traffic drop of more than 50% following one of Google's 2011 algorithm changes. He says he abandoned that strategy because it didn't work.

His business also contributes posts about dog-related topics to websites like EzineArticles.com and Squidoo.com, with links to his site in each. Still, he doesn't believe his site should be punished for that. "It's just a regular marketing activity," Mr. Strauss says.

Google declines to divulge specifics of its search-ranking algorithm, but it discourages paid links and low-quality website links. According to Google, the recent shifts in its algorithm, known as "Penguin," will enhance the user experience and don't punish businesses that follow its guidelines.

"The Penguin algorithm update was designed to reduce Web spam, which is when websites try to get a higher search ranking than they deserve by deceiving or manipulating search engines," says Matt Cutts, a Google engineer. "In many cases, the affected sites had been spamming for a long time," Mr. Cutts adds.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...747002494.html

Which business owner wants to risk his business or all investements he did?

It seems like Cutts never run a business in his life, and if marketing is considered spamming what else can we do?

I am still amused by all the business owner stories and the Google indifference toward us.

What's your story?

Mod note: combined the above two threadstarts with common theme.

Last edited by robjones; 05-24-2012 at 05:25 PM.

The search engine environment is a dynamic field. Just as quickly as people learn to game the system the system is changed to adjust for the gaming. I don't think that will ever change. I seriously doubt that Google can kill the guys that learn to get sites ranked. It can however devastate the lazy ones that expect to never have to learn again once they've mastered the basics as they stand at that time.

The guys that fall on their knees and scream at the sky about the unfairness every time the algorithm changes seriously need to go into another line of work.

Just my 2 cents. Been watching this happen for over a decade, and every time the algo changes the Chicken Littles blog that the sky is falling. Still hasn't happened. The resourceful find a way.

__________________

In wine there is wisdom.
In water there is bacteria.
You decide.

Last edited by robjones; 05-24-2012 at 05:29 PM.

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The guys that fall on their knees and scream at the sky about the unfairness every time the algorithm changes seriously need to go into another line of work.

Just my 2 cents. Been watching this happen for over a decade, and every time the algo changes the Chicken Littles blog that the sky is falling. Still hasn't happened.

I totally disagree with you.

If you are a small business owner and you invested thousands of dollars you don't intentionally game any system or you are making a big mistake. It is more obvious if you have a thousands dollars stock.

After talking to many small business owners in the Bank of America small business forum, I don't know one lazy business owner or they are already gone. We all work 7 days a week and sometimes nights to market or work for our businesses. Perhaps you aren't a business owner so it will be just assumptions on how they run it.

Now there is a fine line where Google love to play is page rank and they can do whatever they want to brainwash webmasters.

In the google fantasy world you cannot buy links, you cannot sell links, you cannot market your own articles or your own products on your own site the way you want, because they can consider that as "spam links". Google page rank is a very good excuse to control, hit, penalize, restrict, demote, ban, or favor an industry or a specific target at will. You cannot build links too fast, you cannot change page titles too often, etc it is just BS.

For example Bing don't have page rank so it is much more simpler and smarter.

Search engine is a very dynamic field, but the two last years (not a decade) it looks like progressive annihilation on ecommerce owners like never seen before to favor brands.

Important internet players in my field generate more than 250 links on each product and it is impossible to compete if on the top of that google gives them a super mega exposure.

I have read a lot of articles about SEO, marketing, rankings, etc and 80% is garbage or repeated or spinned information. You know like me that the real SEO experts will either keep their techniques for themselves or get paid for their services. People writting about SEO or like you just did are just repeating what google says

Did you read the Google guidelines? I mean deeply?

There are only hints and you can only guess if you aren't a SEO/SEM professional.

Now google should say that their index is not for little guys it will be much more honest than leaving false hopes to online small business owners.

Last edited by Natural Elements; 05-24-2012 at 05:47 PM.

Junior Member

Join Date: 04-23-12

Posts: 15

google issues

yes its true! google favors this big entrepreneur because simply they earn a lot of money from them whereas we the small once who are we? well that's reality that goes on every day. we just have to strategies our efforts to be able to compete hopefully with these big marketers.

Junior Member

Join Date: 02-10-12

Location: India

Posts: 20

Dont think so. Think of that how can you promote your business without organic search. You need a huge marketing expense to cater to your customer. WIth google search, it has become easy with negligible marketing costs

If you think that Google is being a bully towards small businesses, then simply stop giving them the power they have over you. Seriously, yes, everyone wants to rank on Google because its important/popular/etc. but you are still overlooking the fact that Google is not the only search engine out there. If you are only going to rely on one search engine, then you're dooming yourself before you even get out of the starting gate.

Many of the policies that google are against I can understand, simply because there are too many out there that are marketing really low quality products or scamming people into parting with their money, and they would do what they have to do to get that to happen (blackhatters, yes). Buying links, selling links, using pyramids, magnets, losh knows what else, simply to get ahead is wrong IMHO, and it shows me (if no one else) that your business is not built on the trust you are supposed to cultivate from your clients or prospective clients. I honestly think that when someone is running about like a headless chicken after one of Google's updates are genuinely scared because of tactics they have used that they know google is not going to like. Simple.

That being said though, Google itself is a business, just like every other online business. Everyone has a set of guidelines about how their products are used, and Google is no different.

__________________
"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams

Last edited by Dreamrage; 05-25-2012 at 12:19 AM. Reason: grammar

At this time google have complete control on search engine market because google have no competition. For this reason google screwing small business.

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Join Date: 09-16-07

Posts: 5

Well actually i against that thought.... Google against spammers not against loyal customers...

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If you think that Google is being a bully towards small businesses, then simply stop giving them the power they have over you.

What is this hypocritical concept? You like it or not Google represent 70% of the search market, how as a business owner can ignore that? Are you going to repeat like many who have ties with google the same thing? Don't you think that google and particularly Cutts use a few well known guys writting about google, seo to promote their manipulative corporate propaganda?

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that your business is not built on the trust you are supposed to cultivate from your clients

You don't know my business and my market, and that is a complete assumption.

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That being said though, Google itself is a business, just like every other online business. Everyone has a set of guidelines about how their products are used, and Google is no different.

Google is not a online business like any others, you put a site on internet and they scrap it, compared to my customers or visitors coming on my site to read my articles or to buy my products.

Google is not an ethical corporation, they don't respect the laws as seen in many cases around the world, just to name a few: Privacy and data protection.

Other example resulting in lawsuit like selling ads for illegal drugs, etc

Are you an online company like Google? Fortunately I am not.

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I did not say ignore

. I said not to give them the power they have. All I meant by that, is using other engines at the same time, but focusing less on google.

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You don't know my business and my market, and that is a complete assumption.

ah no. I was not making assumptions.

if it seemed that way, I am sorry.

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Google is not a online business like any others, you put a site on internet and they scrap it, compared to my customers or visitors coming on my site to read my articles or to buy my products.
Google is not an ethical corporation, they don't respect the laws as seen in many cases around the world, just to name a few: Privacy and data protection.
Other example resulting in lawsuit like selling ads for illegal drugs, etc
Are you an online company like Google? Fortunately I am not.

Fortunately, they don't scrap every site on the net. They would lose business.

they remove sites that violate their TOS. There are many other companies out there that have had law suits aimed at them for the same reasons, or worse.

Whether google is ethical or not, is open to each person's interpretation. But think about other companies that could be called the same thing, because of similar law suits filed. Let me ask you something though. If you developed software for use on the net, would you set rules as to how it would be used, so that its not abused?

Anyhoo, have a good weekend.

Ciao.

__________________
"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams

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Originally Posted by natural elements

Do you agree that Google is killing small businesses and gives little hope to compete online?

I spent a few decades in real estate and when I got in there was a thing called the fully assumable loan. Many of us made a lot of money helping people take advantage of that feature, then it went away based on decisions by the FHA. Poof. Gone. Some people felt it was the end of the world, others learned newer more intricate financial vehicles and we moved forward. We adapted to the changing environment rather sitting around cursing those that changed what we'd known.

My income has been tied to the net for years. Disagreeing with you doesn't mean I'm unprofessional, unethical, or less than knowledgeable. It just means I'm tired of the whining from those that can't adapt to change and am pretty sure there are still opportunities out there for those that seek them instead of griping about the ones that went away.

When the weather gets cold, we can
-- {a} scream at the tardy sun
-- {b} blog about how unjust it is that today isn't as warm as yesterday
-- {c} go put on a sweater.
[HINT: Only one of those works.]

FFR - It isn't real productive to ask a question and then direct pejorative comments at those that don't agree with your preset conclusion. If you really think you're the only professional in the room, no need to ask for others opinions. __________________

In wine there is wisdom.
In water there is bacteria.
You decide.

Last edited by robjones; 05-25-2012 at 08:52 AM.

Ah thanks to clarify

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Whether google is ethical or not, is open to each person's interpretation.

Agree, except if you have court orders to prove that a corporation is not ethical. Every day we see settlements and corporation getting away from their responsabilities, until the next time. Another example to prove that is the huge corporations that didn't learn from the dot-com bubble. Facebook IPO is promoted by Goldman Sachs and Co, check the progression in the market time to time and it will be the same story.

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Let me ask you something though. If you developed software for use on the net, would you set rules as to how it would be used, so that its not abused?

Let me answer you by another question: Is the software company changing rules everytime? Are you asking the people who buy the software with the old rule to comply to the new rule?

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Disagreeing with you doesn't mean I'm unprofessional, unethical, or less than knowledgeable. It just means I'm tired of the whining from those that can't adapt to change and am pretty sure there are still opportunities out there for those that seek them instead of griping about the ones that went away.

I have for principal to respect anyone opinion, but I may disagree. If you are tired of the whining, I cannot help you. We can either stick our head in the sand, talk about it, take some articles to make the point you are trying to make, and exchange tips to help each over.

I hate fatalism, and regarding the time you are trying to adapt (you cannot go fast to make changes on your site because regarding the google policies, you may be penalized for too many changes in a short period of the time) they created other updates or another alorighm. So asking to adapt in this situation it is a joke and it is not a serious solution. I couldn't imagine how painful it will be for a business owner having more than 1,000 pages on his website.

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Originally Posted by natural elements

I have for principal to respect anyone opinion, but I may disagree. I

Of course you may disagree. Does that mean others can't disagree with you? Casting stones about ethics and knowledge of those that disagree with YOU is still not productive.

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If you are tired of the whining, I cannot help you. We can either stick our head in the sand, talk about it, take some articles to make the point you are trying to make, and exchange tips to help each over.

There is nothing in either of the posts you started the thread with that suggests you're looking for solutions, they are just an invitation to agree with you that Google has screwed the little guy. Re-read them and see if you can find a different conclusion. If you're under the impression whining is productive, I cannot help you.

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I not a fatalist, I'm a realist. When I was in real estate I never liked it when interest rates rose rapidly. I didnt like it when home values declined. I didn't like it when those in the position to do so altered or removed programs I liked. That said, I still made a professional income despite the obstacles, because others were busy wailing about the new obstacles while I was busy scouting a new route.

Incidentally, when I saw a paradigm shift that I felt was going to be a true barrier to making the income I wanted to make and I didn't see a path around the issue... I didn't bother whining, I looked for a different career path.

True professionals are the ones that look at the changes and find the hole through which to scramble... not the ones that look wistfully at last weeks scenario and wish it were still that way. Improvise / Adapt / Overcome. Whining fixes exactly zip.

__________________

In wine there is wisdom.
In water there is bacteria.
You decide.

Last edited by robjones; 05-25-2012 at 10:00 AM.

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Of course you may disagree. Does that mean others can't disagree with you? Casting stones about ethics and knowledge of those that disagree with YOU is still not productive.

Other can disagree with me, of course that where we can learn from each others. But there is a difference between brainwashed by the google propaganda and exchanging thoughts.

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If you're under the impression that whining about a problem is productive use of time, I cannot help you.

I did not ask you for help, but take all the people complaining about products or corporation services, I can assure you that if they read many whinings, they may change their policies, after all we are not only webmasters but also google users.

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There is nothing in either of the posts you started the thread with that suggests you're looking for solutions, they are just an invitation to agree with you that Google has screwed the little guy.

I asked a question on the first post: "Do you agree that Google is killing small businesses and gives little hope to compete online?"
you may not like it and I can understand that if you are a google admirer.

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That's the American way of thinking, perhaps we have a different cultural view on things.

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Whining fixes exactly zip. True professionals are the ones that look at the changes and find the hole through which to scramble... not the ones that look wistfully at last weeks scenario and wish it were still that way. Improvise / Adapt / Overcome.

If that were true, the American revolution will never happen, all you apply to yourself and I can respect that is the Marines motto.

Actually some of us are living in a civilian life.

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But there is a difference between brainwashed by the google propaganda and exchanging thoughts.

I quit reading right there. If you can't avoid snottiness and name calling... I'll bow out and let you continue moaning that things arent as they were before. Enjoy.

__________________

In wine there is wisdom.
In water there is bacteria.
You decide.

Pardon my French, I am sorry that you are offended.

You should know that google is working for the NSA, perhaps it can explain the method of how they brainwash people, spy on people and destroy economic ativities to benefits their cronies.

Have a good week end my friend.

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You should know that google is working for the NSA, perhaps it can explain the method of how they brainwash people, spy on people and destroy economic ativities to benefits their cronies.

Got some proof of that statement? Not speculation by some anti Google person, actual proof.

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samuelvictorsd

Saturday, 26 May 2012

Google is killing the small business and giving them little hope to ...

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