Should Google be regulated?

[simonm]

Considering the increasing importance that is placed on Google for the dissemination of information and promotion of business, along with the recent serious inconsistencies in site placement on this search engine, perhaps it is time that Google was regulated?

[globalpi]

Totally!!! They have cause dus no end of probelms. Considering that Yahoo use google search results and have charged us $US 299 to be listed every year (Yahoo), we now feel ripped off - Google should not be allowed to simply move the goal posts in this way.

[janeth]

I think that if Google is making changes to cause more people to pay for ads that is wrong and they should be regulated but if there just trying to make changes to better there results they have every right.

Just because we do not like the changes I think it is there business to do with as they like.

But what I would like to see is some good competition. We are no longer using Google to find information on the Web due to the searches that are coming back.

We are using http://www.webworldindex.com/ and http://www.altavista.com/
Even if Google changes back to the old system or fixes there current problem we will still use other forums to find information.

Do not misunderstand as soon as Google calms down we will begin working to get our top ranking back on Google and make what ever changes are needed to do so.
But will never use them again to do searches for information.
They have gotten to big.

[OneMoreBite]

Who would you propose to regulate them?

[esiegel]

Google is a business like any other...
They are not a govenment service. You do not have the 'right' to have your site listed by them.

If it is important to you to be listed high on there site (for free)...play their game and figure out what it takes.

On the other hand...if they are not listing the best/most significant sites on their search...they will quickly lose their standing as the top search engine...much the way Yahoo did before them.

[vwebworld]

Oh my, regulation... a baaaaad thing.

Google got where they are because they provided
a good product. Like other businesses, if the
latest product "model" offered doesn't work...
people will end up not using it.

Unfortunately, Google is everywhere. So, how
do you deal with that? Like anythingelse, promote
the use of a different product/service. What
search engine would you recommend to use in Google's
place? Then tell everyone you know to use that one.

The one great think about the web... is "word of
mouth" spreads fast and far. So, if a bunch of
people/sites start spreaing the word... soon
soomething can happen.

~Roland

[simonm]

I fully agree that Google is a business, has every right to make money and return a profit. No problem with that. However, as with airlines, oil companies, food, the tobacco industry, telecoms and other utilities, there is a degree of regulation due to the importance that these organsiations represent to other businesses and the public.

I suggest that Google has reached that level of importance. It has been clearly seen over the last couple of weeks that it can make or break companies. It increasingly influences our access to information.

Google, by definition has established rules and processes which result in information being placed on its search lists. Though these rules are not published, they are implied.

As to who should regulate such as Google, I would rather it was done though some sort of agreed self regulation, perhaps a code of conduct?

[esiegel]

Originally Posted by simonm

as with airlines, oil companies, food, the tobacco industry, telecoms and other utilities, there is a degree of regulation due to the importance that these organsiations represent to other businesses and the public.

I suggest that Google has reached that level of importance.

Maybe so...but there is a major difference. The Airlines, telecoms, ect. CHARGE the users for their service...and there is often little alternative if you choose not to use them. The use of Google is free to me as a searcher...and if I consistantly don't find value in the sites that the list...I go somewhere else. (along with their advertisers)

[cyanide]

The brains behind Google is sheer brilliance
What started out as an academic project has become a huge corporate dominance. And the fact they can be profitable without charging us a dime? -well, for being in their index atleast.

It's time for the other 'big boys', msn, yahoo, altavista, etc. to step up to the plate and offer a comparitive algorithym. That to me would be the ultimate regulation. Could very well be right around the corner

[carol]

I think we'd have a lot less innovation if brilliance was rewarded by regulation and therefore loss of control. As a business, Google should retain the ability to make its own decisions regarding whatever it takes to operate, including its rankings.

[sudhani]

Originally Posted by cyanide

The brains behind Google is sheer brilliance

Yes I do agree!!! At least my personal experience tells me I get more relevant results when I use google than any other SE.

Think Google is taking its steps back from the recent "Google Dance". Look at this post: Google's "Original" Results Are Back.

[curtis]

"If one can't ante up, don't play the game." In other words, if one doesn't like what search engines are doing and one can't keep up with the changes, perhaps one should consider a change of career.

[jephens]

Not for anything, but why won't anyone admit they can't always be the #1 (... Top 10, Top 30, etc...) ranking?

In any space there are going to be many players, and each site is going to be just as relevant as the next.

If I do a search on "airlines" and JetBlue comes up first, does it mean they're better or worse than "Ted" which comes up second?

How should Google determine that "Ted" is better then JetBlue? How could it possibly?

This to me is the largest problem with the ranking mess -- there's always going to be someone else just as relevant.

As far as regulation goes; I would call on MSN, etc. to build a better mousetrap. If you don't like the way Google works, don't use them, and tell everyone you know to do the same. Offer a compelling reason, and your friends might listen to you.

[grease]

Google gives anyone a chance, at any level, to recieve prime exposure for their business. There are many legitmate tactics to get to the top. Unfortunately there are also successful unethical means - of which Google supposedly regulates. Personally I love the system, but Google really needs to enforce it's own rules more strictly. I am tired of word spamming, and auto-forward sites with top rankings.

Grease

[JayDrake]

(Much like napster bad, beer good, only without the freaky Metallica-like cartoon characters.)

Simply put, I'm against regulation of Google. They are leaders in a very profitable industry, but they are not by a long ways the only search engine out there. The only case in which I would consider the possibility of regulation would be a point in time where there is no competition. I simply don't see this as ever happening, however. If anything, I expect the other search engines to look for ways to improve their own search results and come up with whatever features, benefits and incentives they might use to lure people away from Google. (Consider the power of a Google/iWon hybrid where you get the relevance of Google and the possibility of getting something for nothing like iWon.)

Personally I'm against regulation of business on the whole except where such things as safety and health are involved. Hmm... Isn't that the case with the regulation of the airline, tobbacco, food and oil industries? Show me how Google can cause negligent death or wanton destruction of the environment, cruelty to animals or some other major bit of unpleasantness and I might agree to the idea of regulation.

[jhbrandt51]

I find that searching Google is no longer effective. It is clogged with web sites that pay to be on top. they are not relevent. It is no longer a good search engine. It seems, that only the sites that pay, show up and they are not nessesarily the sites that I am looking for.

[janeth]

With those words of wisdom there is no way JayDrake is as young as his picture looks.
Again the search engines we are now using are http://www.webworldindex.com/ and http://www.altavista.com/ Of course there is no list complete with out http://www.scroogle.org/
I would like to see some good head to head competition with Google and all of http://www.altavista.com/ search results are just as good as the old Google and better then the new Google from what I have seen.

[greeneagle]

How can anyone think that the world's top search engine and the US government aren't already walking around hand-in-hand?
Google ranks http://www.google-watch.org with a 70% ranking.
But here is the clencher "SPOOKY GOOGLE" at a current 60% Google ranking: http://www.google-watch.org/jobad.html
With their current dance and the volume of current criticism why would they continue to let a site defame them without legal action if the stories were not true? Why would they continue to rank the site with 60-70% relevancy rankings all the way through? Why do you suppose they are hiring ex NSA agents with TOP SECRET CLEARRANCES? Why are they trying to hire more employees with TOP SECRET clearances? Could it be because ALL PRIVACY ISSUES are subjugated in the interest of national security? Could it be that the Government is helping form the new alogrithms in the interest of National Security?

MAYBE THEY ARE BEING REGULATED ALREADY! - That's my guess!

[rlrouse]

Google is a far cry from a monopoly. There are many other search engines on the web, but Google is #1 and for good reason.

Every time the Government decides to punish success with regulation, innovation suffers. We'll all be better off if the regulators steer as clear of the internet as possible.

Besides, like any other business operating in a free market, Google is already "regulated". If you don't believe me, just ask AltaVista and Looksmart.

[mikmik]

I am only guessing, I am not at all knowledgeable about how critical marketting and exposure is for some sites/businesses much beyond the obvious, however:

Why would you want to regulate google. I don't know, but did people discuss this say, 6 months to a year ago? Or am I just to new to have that knowledge - I really don't know, but in the 4 month's I've started being aware of SEO and PPC and "Keyword Bidding?", it seems to have just now become such a hot topic.

Is that because, seems to me over about the last six months, it has become more and more of a 'contest' as google's list/ranking criterea has become more mysterious. So are people upset because they don't know the rules anymore, and thus can't manipulate them or find loopholes to exploit?
curtis says

"If one can't ante up, don't play the game." In other words, if one doesn't like what search engines are doing and one can't keep up with the changes, perhaps one should consider a change of career.

Seems to me that as recenlty as 6 months ago, when I was learning about how google etc. worked I (like many non-website workers/specialists), thought you just got a website and it 'showed up'. But I was 'told' ,by many articles and tutorials, that to get ranked entailed 'getting listed on DMOZ' and pumping your code with hidden keywords - keyword spamming - and that the only reason not to do this was because it was useless, if not detrimental, to use words like 'sex' and 'free' and 'mp3' just to get visitors to you site that has nothing to do with such.
jhbrandt51 says ;

I find that searching Google is no longer effective. It is clogged with web sites that pay to be on top. they are not relevent. It is no longer a good search engine. It seems, that only the sites that pay, show up and they are not nessesarily the sites that I am looking for.

I don't know about you (although you just told me!), but I seem to recall getting even less usefull results on google, or any other SE, because the first 5 pages of results were filled with irrelevant sites that had used keyword spamming - I began just automatically clicking to the 3rd and 4th pages of results. I began to develop skills at spotting the 'good' listings from the 'bad'.
Exactly this - along with what curtis says, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
It wouldn't surprice me if google wasn't even using any specific formula beyond what they reveal, it's just some random thing to give more sites a chance to get exposure, sort of a blending between what leads to established/veteran sites with virtually immovable status dominating, and some measure of opportunity for newer, unknown sites.
I am begining to snicker a little bit these days when I see the folks that are getting stressed and so bent out of shape over trying to 'figure out the magic formula'. I'm not thinking or even knowing of anyone in particular when I say this - I am not familiar with any of the pure marketting driven sites at all, I only see this happening 'here and there' with much more frequency these days. But the joke would certainly be on them, wouldn't it?
It is up to us to choose alternatives, and promote their usage, if we don't like something. We are the ones with the power, by voting with our dollars and promotional support(education) to decide the rules by choosing the companies that use the rules we like, and making them successful.
I agree 100%!! with grease and janeth, and I think that google is in the process of doing the 'weeding out' the exploitable and unfairly weighted 'algorythms', because they are very, very astute and seem to be, to me, progressive and ethical, as much as possible.
Those guys impress me, a lot. They know what's coming, biggies like microsoft et al. and maybe they are just using the best advice I've ever heard regarding SEO'ing a site :"Make it as helpful to your visitors as possible!!"

[felicity1127]

I would like to put my 2 cents worth in here. I think what Google is doing is wrong. I agree there are some people who are spamming and trying to trick the search engines, but the websites that don't do those things are being penalized too. I have a Cleaning Service website that ranked number 4 for house cleaning service since last year. Now when you put in house cleaning service you get irrelevent results. One site that comes up number 2 for that key phrase is a website that is so bad. It has a picture of 3 girls that look like they are in a bar drunk. Would you want someone like this cleaning your house? Patti www.felicitywebdesign.com