Today the BBC has reported that the European Commission has launched an investigation into Google after other search engines complained that the firm had abused its dominant position.
The issue at hand is whether or not Google fiddles the search results for its own benefits. Google always claims that the search engine is automatic and its own sites are treated equally and fairly with others. But as Google moves into more areas where there are well established websites, some people are starting to feel that Google is giving itself a helping hand to promote he sites that make it more money.
In recent months Google has added its Universal Search Results which often include YouTube videos within the first 5 search results. Also Google often promotes its own products, such as Google Documents and Google Places, and people have raised questions of whether these are what is best for the user. Also, there is another question of whether Google is undercutting other advertisers in Adwords, pushing its products first.
Of course, this is all perfectly normal for a business with shareholders and profit to think about. But the public have some to expect Google to provide a fair and accurate representation of what is best online.
“The EC will examine whether the world’s largest search engine penalised competing services in its results.
The probe follows complaints by firms including price comparison site Foundem and legal search engine ejustice.fr.
Google denies the allegations but said it would work with the Commission to “address any concerns”.
Earlier this year the attorney general of Texas launched a similar investigation following complaints from firms including Foundem.
The objections in both cases are from competitors which allege that Google manipulates its search results.” Source: http://bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11876443
Advertising is still Google’ score business. Much of the money Google makes is from displaying adverts on search results pages and on Adsense publisher sites. For publishers the question is, “are we getting paid a fair price by displaying Google adverts on our pages?”. For advertisers it is “are Google knocking us of the top advertising spots unfairly?”. Then in search too, the question is “do Google pages follow the same search rules / algorithm factors as everyone else.
Trust Rank
One thing Google has spoken of in the past is “Trust Rank”, the idea that some domains Google will trust more, and therefore these will naturally rise in the search engines. It is perfectly acceptable that Google would trust its own products as it creates them within its own Google webmaster guidelines.
Filtering Sites
Another argument against Google is that it filters sites unfairly, and that a website that performs well in the search engines can drop for now reason. However, Google asserts that these sites always drop for a reason. There are often changes in the search engines (Google reported over 300 search algorithm changes for 2009, almost one every day) so it is natural for websites to fall and rise. It is up to the webmasters to keep up to date with the latest Google guidelines on building better websites, and ensuring that their sites remain a high quality.
We shall update you on the results of these probes into Google.
Full story: http://bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11876443
