Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

emilio deangelis — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:35:16 GMT

maybe we need more laws to keep watch on the politicians,it seem when they are not involed things
move along just fine.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

James, LA, Califonia — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:17:28 GMT

Okay, so everybody knows that Microsoft is battling to gain market shares of the online ad business, right? Right. Well, is everybody else aware that MSNBC is 50% owned by Microsoft? I mention this because Eve Tahmincioglu's opinion of Google, before even reading her article, comes off as biased with the reason being who she works for.

I think that Google has the right to do what they like as long as they don't act like Microsoft did when they were trying to monopolize everything way back in the day (up to 2006). Writers like Eve who try to instill fear in consumers don't realize that the only people who REALLY care are the businesses paying for online ads and not consumers. So small and big businesses want more online ad compitition so they get lower rates, but who cares?!

Get a life and start writing something that matters and won't be concieved as biased and a conflict of interest.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Ashley Kirk, Sioux City, IA — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:16:12 GMT

Yahoo used to be the big search engine. Then Google became more convenient. If Google becomes obtrusive or inconvenient or any number of other "bad" things, users will just switch to the next up-and-comer. That's what is so great about a free internet service - there is always another one out there doing a similar job. Google is just the best one right now, and their innovations are keeping them the best - right now.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Tom, ATL, GA — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:11:38 GMT

Not enough information here. Google is raking in easily millions in ad dollars from so obviously copywritten material that we've just come to accept the fact. But Google is banging huge bucks there as whose expense? For the most part Google is run by people far more intelligent than any politician or economist. That is both good (hurray for smart business) and something to be concerned about (well, evil can be smart too).

I've spent over a quarter mil with google in ad sales thru my job, and I still would rather keep them at arm's length. Power is just something you should keep your eye on.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Southampton — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:20:46 GMT

No complaints from small businessess - Could be that either that they could not afford to attend, or did not know about the meetings. Very small business do not normally belong to associations or groups

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Mark Robbins — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:48:31 GMT

I dont use google personally, and I have reconfigured the DNS servers at work so that when people try to go there, they get redirected to live dot com. I used wensense to block all the google ad sites.

I know its only 500 users, but...

Just doing my part :)

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Alex Daniels, Farmington, NM — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:22:21 GMT

I'm tired of clicking on a link,only to be directed to some ad or sales page... just link me up with what I wanted to see, not some ad trying to sell me something.... Are these guys stupid or what??? I just highlight the link and then put it in myself... tooo frustrating!!!

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Ralph, Sunnyvale, Calif. — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:54:30 GMT

We used to like Yahoo when they rated our Web site by content. We made money and Yahoo made money. But now that they rate us like Google always had, only by what is in it for them, we can no longer afford either one of them.

Some items, such as educational courses, simply are not blockbusters and never will rank high. Compamies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft should realize that and adjust their policies at bit more towards the social good and not just their pocketbooks. When one is as big and powerful as Google some social responsibility has to come into play as well.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Bob Waits, Boulder City, Nevada — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:48:48 GMT

Advertising is private enterprise and should not be controlled, the market will adjust things that get out of balance. The problem for me is search engines. As a small business trying to get started naturesartandgifts.com I am told that I will have to spend a lot more money to buy ads on Google or let them put things on my pages I have no control of.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

BB — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:33:54 GMT

Googel has archieve dozens of my web pages and gives me good coverage. I neither sell anything or promote any business but since I have a fairly high hit count google gives me a good representation on their search engine.

I really do not see what the problem is. I haven't paid a penny for my google presence.

BB / www.biddlesbank.com

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

ad sense, Suxupahat, Wi — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:51:11 GMT

someday people will realize that no one ever clicks on any of those web ads, unless they're sneaky and then the viewer feels deceived. An informal poll of 4 friends revealed we have clicked exactly 1 adsense advert / banner ad in the last year.

Advertisers are seriously wasting money, and when they realize that the web is not a very strong medium for conferring business growth through advertising, there won't be any monopolies and instead it will fall back to tiered and targetted advertising

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Zac, Orlando, FL — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:26:27 GMT

@James, LA, Califonia
So you are telling me that Google implanting their darn toolbar in every type of consumer install is a fair practice? Yahoo does the same thing but Google has hit wider used software companies such as Adobe. The everyday user who tries to open a pdf document or even install Adobe Flash is automatically prompted for Google's toolbar. Oh, and if you install Apple's QuickTime software you get an auto yes Google toolbar install.
It is a lie to think that those things don't effect the masses. Any basic computer user usually has multiple search toolbars installed and use those by default. Yeah, they had a choice to select the non-bolded "No" statement but left it on the bold "Yes".
I do not think that is a fair practice.

As for your comment on the author being bias...
"It's moved when others have stood still: Imagine, for instance, how limited Web-mail and online mapping would be if Google hadn't reinvented each category earlier this decade."
Uh, why would she mention Google reinventing each category..? Microsoft has been so far ahead of the mapping software. Unfortunately they did not advertise it as much. And web mail... Microsoft's Outlook Web Access has been around for years and years and years, one of the first full fledged AJAX websites (way before Google). Don't you think a bias person would point that out.

I see bias write ups all the time. They are not even remotely vague and range from the gadget styled blogs to the New York Times.

The main concern is that the Small Business owners aren't aware of these new repercussions.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Craig Felton, Seattle WA — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:13:45 GMT

Google is a multi-billion dollar company because if you are a small business owner, you need to give them all of your profit if you want to show up on their search engine.

As a twenty year owner and founder of a family business which has been fairly stable if not rich over the years, our sales suddenly dropped when some internet competitors popped out of nowhere and essentially took over the online market. We eventually found out it was due to sponsored advertising and so we started bidding too. Eventually all the companies were trying to outbid each other and last year, for the first time in 10 years, we lost money. Our competitors, who don't even have a storefront, also rank much higher for some reason. So it turns out its all about 'search engine optimization', and you have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get someone to manage that for you. Unfortunately, we lost so much bidding for the sponsored links that we can't afford to do that. And what does a high ranking have anything to do with the quality of the product anyway? Now we are on the verge of going bankrupt because the money that should be going into my retirement fund is now going to Google and Sergei Brin. U.S. lawmakers need to disallow search engines from owning sponsored listings, and also force them to accept sponsored listing from other companies the same way that Microsoft was forced to make other companies' software available on their operating system. Google basically has a monopoly in the search engine market and is piggybacking its sponsored search listings off that.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Screw this, Winfield, MO — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:58:48 GMT

Some sort of regulation needs to occur, I am tired of being told I need to install one program, in order to get another program for free. I am also sick and tired of being directed towards place holders when I run a search and am off by a character. Congress needs to worry more about how much they are screwing the American Public over, and allowing deceptive ads over public air ways. When ad's appear on television, promoting certain items, but cannot be confirmed by our government, because they our herbal, and the gov't has no control over them, then I wonder about the sanctity of our system.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Kaweeka — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:55:42 GMT

It greatly amuses me to see people think that just because MSNBC is half owned by Microsoft, that Microsoft has ANY editorial control over the content that is written here. If you ask me, Google has for more selective control about what they choose to display on their news pages. It sure isn't random, and I for one cannot understand why stupid You Tube videos that have little or nothing to do with the news page I am at have to dominate half the page at finance.google.com, for example.

As for Google's 'don't be evil' crap, give me a break. They control web advertising and the only way you get to advertise on their engine is by given them your highest limit credit card you got, which they can charge ANYTIME they want for ANY AMOUNT they chose. Tends of thousands of dollars go into ad-sense ads that have as much penetration as mass snail mails used to have - except at a much higher cost.

It is a beast out of control in which you have to bid for ad space in order to remain competitive, while all the other people out there do the same thing. Dominance true attrition, and the only benefactor is Google, which is all too happy to see those bidding wars go higher and higher for the sake of wrestling mind-share from people. At the end, the company that has the big 'marketing' budget to rid its small competitors wins. That's not how advertising is supposed to be, PERIOD ... but it somehow it has become the norm, and businesses all over are just paying for it like idiots.

It only confirms the marketing people just like to burn money, and they are quite good at it. But in the meantime, mom and pop shops can no longer compete unless they have something truly unique that has no competition from larger companies with deep pockets.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Jack Straw — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:26:49 GMT

There's a new site called ygugu.com where you can add sites for free and even get top ratings without paying a cent.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

jacob — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:40:07 GMT

It just seems like our politicians still don't want to take or accept responsibility for the downslide of our economy in many different more FED, Stock and Monetary issues and instead are trying to place the heat on Technology, and that Technology and the Web companies are the sole reasons why small businesses are failing. Because it just can't be that our Gov supports and convinces it's people to start small businesses by convincing them that they'll be protected but when it truly comes down to it, after the Gov gets every penny they can out of a small business they just toss you in the trash and move on to the next.

Is anyone worried about the Google ad gorilla?

Rachelle King — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:41:37 GMT

Make a better search engine with a better ad system that will capture more targeted audience to the website I may be trying to drive traffic to and THEN I will use it over Google!

Google has so many options including being able to control what you’re willing to pay for your conversions and from what I can see it is a fair system. Most businesses can spend what they want and grow themselves through Google Ads and most anyone can start a website if they wanted, and if they have good info and keep it updated they could in all fairness create a profitable income using Google AdSense.

Seems to me that Google is helping create a better economic system in the world and maybe that just scares some people who want control over the masses!