Does Getting Rid of Google Make Sense? Feedback from the Web
Most people in the SEO industry chose to ignore my symbolic act of banning Google and going Google-free after I got penalized for no apparent reason. In contrast articles on "how I tried to recover from Panda/Penguin for 6 mix months and succeeded/failed" are quite popular.
Most webmasters and SEO specialists seemingly prefer to completely rebuild their sites and works for several months to please Google... until the next update comes.
Well, some people had an opinion taking a stand in the face of the Google bully. I collected them here and cite their postings. Does getting rid of Google make sense? Here comes the feedback from the Web:
Marc Eglon of SEOLab says in his post "Google: F#@k You, I won’t do what you tell me":
Seriously, Google has such a stranglehold on our mindshare it’s almost viewed as ‘being’ the internet. That’s just not the case anymore. We forget that it’s a business, with shareholders and self-serving goals. Fact is, you probably don’t need Google and cutting it off will force you to find better alternatives for reaching your fans.
"Power Member" dog-tag of the Black Hat World SEO Forum says in the thread "Help Me Become Googleless! Ideas Please":
OK, I've decided to rid my life of all Google products...
(...)
If you act like a sheep then expect to get slaughtered
Author Jenna Scaglione from SiteReference says in her post "The Anti-Google Movement is Gaining Momentum":
I will NEVER base a large portion of my marketing strategies on Google rankings. The algorithms are too fickle even if you are implementing ultra-white hat strategies.
James McWhorter of SpiderSavvy explains in his article "The Anti-Google Movement?":
As I’ve have said many times before here at SpiderSavvy, don’t put all your eggs in the Google basket – this is becoming more true each day. You can do everything correctly and wake up one day to find that your website has vanished from Google’s search index.
Thomas Bernhard from the German Everything is Remix blog says in a post titled "SEO Dictatorship - Google Puts the Internet on a Leash":
Rules are there to be broken. In the same way that Google penalizes webmasters it also works the other way around...
What do you think? Does getting rid of Google make sense? I'd love to hear your opinion. I don't care if you agree or disagree I only want to know why. Share it in the comments, on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ whatever you prefer.
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Hi Tad, I was very interested by your post about quitting Google. I think you made a brave and senseful step. Good content can actually live without Google… :)
I have read you blog for many years now (4 ? 5?) but I must say that during your being Google-famous period (I mean when you had good rankings) I stopped reading, because I found your posts less innovative and perhaps written to attract the big crowd with titles like “10 ways to have a successfull blog” and “What Google will never tell you”.
Now you got me again with you good writing and engagement! I’m looking forward to read more about this way you took.
Ah yes, and something more : I recently started a little experience that’s going a bit in the same direction as yours.
I started a new blog with the intent to NOT focus on SEO, but much more SMO. OK, I optimized it a bit, but I really aim to get trafic from social media. As it’s a blog about DIY jewelry, there’s a huuuuuge community to catch on blogs, Pinterest, Etsy and so on.
In fact, for now I get much more trafic from those sources than from good old Google… :)
Hey Tad,
I understand the metaphor behind your decision but I don’t know if “banning” Google would be the most sensible thing to do. What about simply ignoring them and what you get is what you get?
Getting around without Google isn’t impossible. There are plenty of strategies which work and takes search out of the equation. But if they are going to give you traffic and you aren’t working it to get that traffic, then why the heck not?
Just my thoughts though. You are a brave soul, especially if the sites you have banned are commercial in nature.
Surfanna: Thank you for voicing your opinion after so many years of faithful readership. I truly appreciate it. You are right that my writings weren’t as inspired lately before I got rid of Google. I just got sucked deeper and deeper into the tedious conventional SEO habits I tried to overcome initially with SEO 2.0
Now that I am Google-free I can also express myself without artificial constraints.
Leo: Thank you for your remarks. Indeed I guess many people think like you, that’s the obvious reaction to expect IMHO. My case is a bit special perhaps as I got mainly off topic and even downright harmful traffic from Google. Mostly people wanting to take my images have landed here via Google and Google images. Plus the dofollow blog commenting lot, people adding no value and only taking my time. At the same time I had to optimize headlines etc. for Google so that they ended up sounding boring.
Just discovered your blog yesterday, great stuff! Someone with an actual opinion, on any topic really, is hard to find these days in this echo chamber we call the internet. Keep it interesting like this, and I will keep returning. Tschüss!
[...] transgressions is not new. a number of our peers have expressed disdain for G, going as far as banning it. however, we can’t dismiss the volume of consumers using the search engine. it’s [...]