Why Google can't remove commercial content

[born2drv]

There was another thread where someone mentioned Google would one day be able to eliminate free commerical content, although I find it hard to believe, that got me thinking... ;)

If ALL Google's commercial content goes PPC --- this increases overhead and the prices of products. (obviously)

So if consumers search for commercial content that is all paid for, they will essentially be paying MORE for these products, compared to if they had used a "free" search engine.

Wouldn't it make sense that in time Google could suffer, if users realized they could always get a better deal on goods in another "free" search engine?

Like registering domains where I'm sure profit margins are really slim, --- the cheapest registrar will never be #1 on the PPC, but thats the one you want.

So in a sense, if Google had 100% paid for commercial results, they would only be feeding users OVER-PRICED products and services, does that make sense? :)

[Helpmebe1]

brn2drv,
EXACTLY! The reason why google become so popular is because it is unbiased! The small guy through some work will be found. People like that idea, that is the ENTIRE concept of shopping online, that and ease. If google goes this route, this will be the downfall of google, trust me! I suspect they will as they go public. With public companies, comes much greed, although that can come with private companies as well. But once public, your the stockholders bit*h and you must do everything to please them. Trust me again, seen a many many billion dollar private company go public first hand, been their lived that and what a mess that company became.

So in essence, going to stop rambling and say.. I totally agree with you, the day google starts charging merchants in ANY way shape or form, their goes all credibility and they will be the next Altavista (long forgotten about and abandoned for the new guy on the block that takes their place)

[europeforvisitors]

Why do you assume that advertising drives up the cost of goods? If anything, the opposite is likely to be true, because the merchants who pay for ads or listings in a shopping portal or shopping search engine will have even more incentive to turn their leads into sales.

Indeed, one could argue that current prices on the Web are higher because the sellers enjoy subsidies in the form of free SE listings. Affiliate sites are a perfect example of this: Google lists thousands of affiliate sites that offer the same goods or services from the same vendors at the same prices. Even if they could charge lower prices than their competitors, most affiliate sites wouldn't do so because they'd find it more profitable to compete through SEO techniques. That may be good for the affiliate sites and their vendors, but it's bad for consumers whose ability to find lower-priced competitors is thwarted by information overload.

It's also important to remember that Google is only one venue for publicizing goods and services. A well-run business won't put all of its eggs in one basket, and it won't charge more to people who read its paid advertising than to people who don't. Let's use an example from the bricks-and-mortar world: Ernie's Electronics City publishes a weekly flyer with its weekly specials on TVs, computers, CDs, etc. Some of those flyers go into the Sunday newspaper (expensive), while others sit in racks inside the store entrance (free). Now, Ernie's is going to charge you the same $399 for a Sony TV whether you got the flyer from the newspaper or when you walked into the store. It's the same with online sales: Ernie's won't charge $409 to the person who clicked an Overture or AdWords listing and $399 to the person who clicked a free listing in Google. (Or, if it does, it'll lose the sale to the other Overture or AdWords advertiser who's charging $399.)

Bottom line: There may be good arguments for keeping free commercial listings on Google SERPs, but economic theory isn't one of them.

[Helpmebe1]

I do have to disagree with you, even though I know what your getting at. The bottom line comes to , you have to charge more the more your overhead is. If you dont, you wont care about customer service if you are the cheapest low balling everything out the door for pennys in profit. You wont be making enough to really care, so A) You go out and keep the site up and work a job and box up your orders when you get home, which means your unreachable all day and your heart isnt into it or B) If you run a store and this is an extra venue, you will care about your walk in customers more becasue they are making your money. If your making pennies on the dollar because you paid for advertising and you want to give a deal that the customer wont click off of, why should that be a priority for you to take care of that customer. Sure you want the extra couple of bucks but it is not worth a hassle of offering good customer service... if you get where I am coming from? Theirfor you have to boost up your prices to still keep it worthwhile for yourself. Personally, all my products are competitively priced, not the lowballer making 10% markup, but I am competitive. In return, if you receive a defective product, I get a new one out to you same day, someone here can be reached all day to answer questions, etc...