tigertom - 5:49 pm on May 9, 2007 (gmt 0)

Google's a near-monopoly. Doesn't matter how nice it is. All fine and dandy, until you get penalised. Unless you're a _real_ web _master_, you're toast.

Google owns the internet, and Adsense is now your wage. A wage paid by a master with whom you have no contract of employment. One regular poster on this theme regularly says primly "Google owes you nothing". How very true that is, and I hope like minds will remember it when they get their metaphorical pink slip.

Google has done some _wonderful_ marketing. They have convinced the greatest cynics on the planet, geeks, that they 'do no evil', that they are a force for 'good'. I can't think of any other body, including the Catholic Chruch, that has managed that.

The original poster is right. Confusing webmaster 'ethics' with 'what Google wants' is stupid. Making a near-monoploy even more so is stupid. Giving it more and more info. about your business is stupid.

And why do people think Google _isn't_ cross-analysing Adwords, Toolbar and Search data? If any other company on the planet had that kind of info about your sites and those you visit, would you be as content about it?