Chapter 7
The Search Economy
Google’s Algorithm Updates

Google periodically updates its search algorithms,
resulting in different websites returning different
results.
 An update in 2003 targeted the SEO (Search
Engine Optimization) industry
 Google was trying to penalize websites that they
viewed as spam, people gaming their sites so they
are ranked higher and appear towards the top of
the index.
 Many honest small companies that thrived on
Google were caught in the crossfire
Neil Moncreif

Used his website 2bigfeet.com to sell shoes size
13+
 Initially did not use advertisements to promote his
website because it was in the top ten results for the
query “big feet”
 The majority of the traffic the website received
was from Google searches.
 After Google tweaked its algorithms in 2003,
Neil’s website was not even in the top 100 results
for “big feet” and Neil suffered financially.
The SEO World

As Overture and Google became a new business
model for marketers, entrepreneurs saw an
opportunity to make money
 Some of the practices used legal strategies, many
did not, and these became known as black hats
 Google webmasters developed guidelines to help
honest SEO’s redesign their website they could be
accurately crawled, ranked, and indexed.
 Webmasters and business owners that followed
legal practices became known as white hats.
Affiliate Sites

Redirect potential customers to larger sites
that have programs that pay for leads.
 When a customer from an affiliate makes a
transaction (buys something) on the target
site, the affiliate gets a small cut.
 Target sites may be using black hat
affiliates. Carnival glass example
Grey Area

Google has to decide which what the searcher
wants when typing in certain queries
 “Digital camera” example
 As a result, many companies are forced to buy
AdWords
 People question if Florida was just an attempt for
Google to make money through AdWords
Paid Search

Paid search shifted the marketing model
from one based on content attachment (ads
such as those in a magazine) to one based
on intent attachment (ads you intend to click
on or view)
 Believed that these two will merge in the
future.
 DVR and search engine example
They’re All Search
Businesses

Search has changed more the just advertising. For
example, take a look at the music business.
Napster is basically search engine for music
 Search engines have also had an effect on the
news business. Google News is one of the largest
news sites on the Internet.
 Newspapers that require a paid subscription have
fallen off the reading list for many people.
Because of this paid subscription these news
companies’ websites do not receive many links, so
they are not at the top of search results.
 Battelle’s Solution
Local Search





The yellow pages is slowly being replaced by
search technology
Internet on phones is on the rise
Local is almost entirely search driven. Craigslist is
one of the top twenty Web sites measured by
traffic, and it offers classified advertising by local
markets. It is free to advertise on the site.
Search is also “ruining” the real-estate business
Crucial information such as title reports and
financial metrics can be found on the internet via
search engines
Trademark Law

American Blinds and Wallpaper Factory
trademark was not covered by AdWords
 Google attempted to make its AdWords
policies legal
 Faced many lawsuits
 Google claims they disregard trademark
laws with their AdWords to “better search
results”
Google vs. American Blinds
Case
Lawyer types in “American Blinds” on
Google and all that shows up is their paid
advertisement
 Results different in different parts of the
country
 Had Google intentionally fiddled with the
results?
