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What is notable about Florida? Two things:
1) Like it or not, information sites are in, commercial sites are out. This is a huge change with profound implications for the Webmastering world. Google has offered numerous comments to suggest that this is the direction of the future, no mistake.
2) A seemingly large number of senior WW members have posted about their varying levels of disappointment or disagreement with the new SERP's.
There are plenty of posts about #1. For a moment however, I'd like to focus on issues related to #2, because I get the distinct sense that some very senior members here, and even a few of the mods, feel *betrayed*. So my question is, did Google owe anybody anything?
A Little Background
Only great companies achieve what G achieved, especially in so short a period of time. But it was more than what they achieved. It was how that achieved it. They were not only technologically superior, and they were cool. Everything from their simple Web interface to their non-corporate culture seemed to break the mold, yet it all made sense. Brilliant. G even seemed to be driven by seemingly very human goals like wanting to 'make the world better'. Wow.
G's World Changed
G originally had four main constituencies: Investors, employees, distribution partners, and users (AKA Web surfers). Three of these four were being admirably taken care of in recent years: Employees (fair wages, good working environment), distribution partners (great SERP's for their site visitors), and users (access to those SERP's, for free). But investors still needed an exit strategy, and things changed...
For one thing, Google spawned a constituency they didn't really want: Optimizers and spammers working to get their pages to the top of the SERP's when they might never have been there *if the world were perfect and no one ever thought about manipulating search results*. Now, I don't view optimizers and spammers as the same, but to an extent, G seems to. As soon as you start thinking to yourself "how could I get this page to rank better" as opposed to "how can I make this a better site for my users" you enter that gray area that makes G uncomfortable.
Additionally, to address investor needs, Google introduced Adwords - and thereby added another important constituency: Adwords buyers, many of whom are Webmasters, from large companies to little mom & pop's. Then, AdSense partners came on board, again, Webmasters. Now, to slice it a little differently, G's constituency base has changed:
--Investors
--Employees
--Distribution partners (increasingly interested entering the same game G is already in)
--Users
--Webmasters who are pure and/or oblivious
--Webmasters who are optimizing
--Webmasters who are spamming
--Webmasters who are buying Adwords (may also be spamming or optimizing)
--Webmaster who are deploying AdSense (may also be spamming or optimizing)
G Makes a Choice...Work With the Webmasters
In so doing, G establishes a sort of contract with Webmasters: We'll try within reason to tell you what is out of bounds, and you try to deliver legitimate sites without spamming the SERP's. Correct by-the-book WebDev is acceptable and encouraged, spammers will be shown no quarter.
For a while the balance works. But slowly, more and more spam seeps in. Ugly stuff. Not helping the user either. Unfortunate side effect: Tarnishes those straighter and useful sites who make some or much revenue from affiliate programs.
G Makes Another Choice...Damn the Torpedoes, "Fix" the SERP's
Google's decides to:
--Make the SERP's more *pure* and information based (I can only speculate on their motives, so I won't; not here anyway)
--Not allow *some* businesses free listings when *others* don't/can't get them
--Intensify anti-spam efforts.
Result: A whole bunch of *legitimate* site operators and business owners are trounced. Some pay little or no attention to optimization, some do. Some buy Adwords. Some were simply commercial.
Now, was that *fair*?
No. It's not fair.
But then again, was it fair that some business who paid more attention to SEO than others got better rankings and lots of inexpensive traffic? Well, not really.
Actually the "fair" thing is a trick question. This isn't about fair or not fair. It's business. In business, fair equates to legal. If it's legal, it's fair. Anyone who has been in business long enough understands this.
Do I like what G did? Nope. Do I feel for the suffering mom & pop's? Yep. Am I surprised by this? Nope, well, maybe a little.
Get Over It.
In taking the tact they've taken, G has made a strategic business decision. It was probably made to de-commercialize the SERP's.
One benefit of that decision *may or may not* be stronger Adwords revenues. One thing that's clear is that the push for revenues is on. Many can argue about whether G needs *more* revenues but the choice is theirs to make.
Action -> Reaction
If the SERP's stop being useful to some users, those users will migrate elsewhere. If the AdSense traffic deteriorates, the advertisers will likewise migrate elsewhere.
My personal take is that if you're looking for goods and services, unless you type the word "buy" into your query (which virtually no one does), you're likely to be frustrated with the results. For this reason, I believe G's decision to purge SERP's of commercial listings will haunt them for years to come, because the simple truth is that many people do search the Web for products and services to buy. If another SE steps in and provides the kinds of SERP's G was providing, G is likely to lose their business slowly but surely.
Additionally, if those Webmasters who feel betrayed wise up and realize that this was *just business* and the world is changed, they may also take actions that have consequences for Google - or they may do the opposite, and up their Adwords budgets.
For every action there is a reaction. Only time will tell for sure.
In the meantime, I'll do what I always do: Assess the landscape, plan for the future, try to minimize my risks.
Any and all thoughts welcome, except the really *nasty ones* ;-)
Nick
