There hasn’t been a monolith this big that has as many heads and hand in as many pots as Google, and their dominance is growing: so who keeps them in check?

My inner capitalist free market pig says, “They’re free to do with their index as they please: it’s their index…”

My Orwellian feathers get ruffled and want to ask, “They’re about to own mobile. They dominate search for English-speaking countries. They know no real competitors (having obliterated them with Universal Search and various algorithm updates). How big and monopolistic do they get before we’re so dependent on their growing array of products there’s no turning back?”

Maybe Orwell was a poor reference, but it’s pretty frightening to be on the other end of Google’s fickle temper as a small business owner, who up until now has been dependent on their traffic.

I did an interview with a former “friend” of Google, Tim Carter of AskTheBuilder fame – he’s going to testify against Google for the first time this year for the FTC.

I think it’s pretty telling. The interview is at my blog (just search “Does Google Really Reward Quality, Original Content? An Interview With AsktheBuilder Tim Carter” and you’ll find it).

I chimed in on Hugo’s post because I liked the message I got out of it regarding Hugo and his crew’s position as a supplier of services. If you are aligned to help a client, then I don’t think they want to hear about your ethical stand on G as much as they want to know how you can internalize shifts and make practical actions to keep their business afoot.

On the other hand, I think all of us can agree, as people, that G does some VERY questionable (downright fucked up?) things.. I’ve been keeping track for a while if you dig through my personal posts.. I think that it is a separate conversation (for us in the profession). Tad, I do think G needs to be ‘called out’ again and again, but we also have responsibilities to clients and as professionals who both (understand Google and understand wants/needs of clients/consumers). I mentioned on Hugo’s post that I would question someone’s ability as a marketer to see no other alternatives than G, but can you get clients to so readily disengage G? Most likely not – it’s likely they’re more concerned with its potential to generate money than ethical discussions (though again, Anthony the person is aligned with a lot of Tad’s ethical sentiments above).

Both of you are great minds, I learn a lot, and it’s cool to have a professionally-open discussion.

Google Shopping turning “ads only” aka paid inclusion or “commercial relationship” in Google’s Orwellian newspeak might not be the biggest ethical issue in the long line of questionable actions by the search giant.

Collaborating with the Chinese dictatorship is a bigger one for example.

Nonetheless Google has repeatedly downranked other shopping search engines recently, Panda almost killed them off completely. Now they capitalize on their market domination. So yes, this absolutely is a problem beyond business as usual.

Personally I’m always a human being first and a marketer second (or rather optimizer because I don’t like to call myself a marketer).
So I don’t separate as strictly as you obviously do. My opportunism goes never as far ignoring ethical aspects of my business.

Last but not least: Why do average people not “complain”? They don’t even understand what’s going on. They get force fed Google’s own services above everything else and they obey and click. It’s on us the specialists who deal with the intricacies of the ever-changing search landscape to point out what the problems are.

Brett: Exactly, non-profit is the right suggestion here. At least some oversight from an organization like the EFF. Right now Google actually governs us on the Web but we can’t influence those in power over at Google.

I’ve noticed this happening to more and more online sites. And not just in SEO, but gaming, tech, politics, etc. Everything is becoming more polar or just spam.

Back to the main topic, I think both sides are partially right. I don’t blame Google for charging tolls for the use of roads they created. Just about any business would if they though they’d make money. But I also think that the web would be better served if a non-profit search engine was formed (like Mozilla was for applications).

First off, thanks for the link and the mention. As you know, any publicity is good publicity.

I definitely consider you an online friend, but this is definitely not the first time I disagree with your take.

For starters, Google deciding to make e-commerce retailers pay for listings in their shopping results isn’t any sort of ethical breach.

Secondly, you seem to prove my point over and over again in this response by confusing yourself and all other marketers with Google’s actual consumer. Google’s product (search) is still completely free. The only thing that changes is that marketers, like you and I – who by definition are self-interested and engage in opportunism all of the time – have to pay for a traffic stream that was once free.

Thirdly, to assert that “not everybody can make an impact” on true human issues is not only a dangerous fallacy, it’s a disingenuous one. Of course you and everyone else can, but you have to put in time and effort into said activism.

Fourthly, I explicitly mentioned that Google, Inc. has engaged in breaches of ethics in a variety of ways, and those things should be addressed.

Lastly, do you ever wonder why non-marketers aren’t complaining about the changes to Google Shopping? Let me give you a hint; it’s because they don’t stand to gain or lose anything. Their search for stuff to buy won’t be impacted in any significant way. If they don’t find what they’re looking for on Google, they’ll just look elsewhere (e.g. Amazon, eBay, Shopping.com, etc.).

So let’s be honest with ourselves, Tad. You and I (and all other marketers) are opportunists by trade. If you think that complaining about Google’s changes to their search landscape will help you do a better job of marketing, then by all means, continuing doing so. I have found much better ways to spend my professional time and so I chose to advise my readership of that personal insight.

Now then, if you want to talk about fighting the power, ethics, morality, and the rest of it, I’m your Huckleberry. I operate multiple blogs that deal with such topics and actively try to perform community service and online activism for what I believe to be just causes.

And on the list of causes to stand behind and take action on, Google’s change to their Shopping Engine results is so far down on the list that it’s laughable.

P.S. Why didn’t you just chime in on my actual post? I had a lot of folks that disagreed with me do so.