Google Knows What You Did Last Summer

Google’s brain power is growing… and their goal of organizing the world’s information is giving them the ability to track the world’s people - including you!

While the Big G claims they’re not really into the whole data mining thing, there is no doubt they have the ability… and it is growing every day in both parallel and perpendicular industries.

They already dominate search and a fling with Yahoo could have them controlling 80% of the web’s Pay Per Click advertising. They recently purchased DoubleClick, one of the web’s most dominant affiliate marketing networks and the name already reflects new ownership with the Google Affiliate Network. TechCrunch is reporting they’re dangerously close to purchasing Digg for around $200 million dollars.

Combine this will all their other fledging initiatives and huge brands such as GMail, YouTube, Google Docs, Lively, etc… and if you’re on, Google can pretty much know exactly what YOU are doing. Before the year is over we’ll see Android Phones and before long they’ll be able to connect your online habits to your mobile habits… phone number, GPS and all (with your permission, of course).

So how is this affecting web publishers? Well, you could say its somewhat dangerous when your #1 source of organic traffic is Google search, your #1 source of paid traffic is Google Pay Per Click, you’re monetizing your traffic with Google Affiliate Network and Google Adsense and are monitoring traffic with Google Analytics.

Chances are Google knows a LOT more about your revenue, profit, ROI, etc… than YOU do. Not only that, but they know about the ROI of the advertisers you’re sending traffic to via Adsense. They know your business inside and out… and they can pummel you in seconds with a mere algo change.

This happened to me yesterday. Two of my top sites went from between ranking Top 5 in Google for top keywords for over 3 months to falling off the face of Google Earth (not literally). PPC advertising via adwords that was costing me 4 cents a click for 3 months straight? Suddenly $5 minimum via quality score on adwords.

The QS thing REALLY is upsetting since if I was bidding on “green widgets” my domain name was GreenWidgets.com, the ad text was all about green widgets and the entire site was about green widgets and I ranked at the top of Google for Green Widgets. I won’t say anymore about this because I explained it in regards to another one of my sites in this post

The point is, even if you’ve got a GREAT white hat site with organic traffic and yada yada yada… you still have to worry about who you’re relying on. Because chances are you’re leaning heavily on Google. And whether or not you like it, Google is unreliable. One small change and you’re entire business model could go kaput.

So this is just a warning: build a stronger foundation to your business model. Here are some quick ideas:

• Start building e-mail lists for your various sites and membership elements. Those emails are yours whether Google likes it or not.
• Build your RSS Subscription - these are people that come to read your site because of its content… regardless of how Google thinks your content ranks today, tomorrow or next week.
• While I still pretty much despise Twitter… start building your NETWORK of CONTACTS using whatever services you prefer or care to explore. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, WickedFire, Local Networking Groups, Forums, etc… people that you can turn to share information about your business, your sites, etc…
• Educate yourself about NEW ways to reach NEW audiences, whether through Press Releases, social media, CPM advertising, lead generation or anything else.

Unfortunately you, like most everyone else, are probably relying too heavily on Google. This is exactly what they want… start diversifying your model now before you get reminded the hard way.

It’s not that Google is TRYING to screw people over, but they certainly aren’t looking out for you and me. They are looking out for their profits and consumers who use Google search and other Google products/services. Make sure that you don’t become necessary collateral damage that is nothing more than an afterthought at the Goog.

Oh… and while you’re at it…. back up your data.

One Response to “Google Knows What You Did Last Summer”

1. Google Knows What You Did Last Summer on July 24th, 2008 5:07 pm

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