I just read this posting by Matt Cutts at Google of how they want to remove paid links, which concentrate on paid posts / reviews on web sites. He uses a great example about brain tumors. Nothing like going for the gut, because no one in their right mind would want their search on brain tumors to be effected by spam. The issue here is that their rule is trying to be applied universally. I admit, I am completely against paid reviews of products because as a consumer I want an unbiased review (oxymoron), but to put all of your faith in product reviews is ridiculous. Plus, no one has mentioned that if you are investing your money and faith in one search engine, then you need to expand your search. I also want to state I do feel that Google in a whole does try to do good, and make money. I am not going to fault them for that, they are a business. If someone is putting all of their faith in a search on Google for an issue as serious as brain tumors, then, how do I say this nicely, they might want a family member to run their affairs. The internet is one source of information, and Google is one piece, albeit a big one, of that source. So I commend Google for trying to clean up the their results because in the end it will only benefit all of us, and if they make money in the process, good. Because that means they will be around for everyone who commented on Matt's post to also make money. I would love to hear my counter part Lisa's - Organic Search Manager - opinion on this subject since this is her specialty.
- Jeff Gores
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