Google- Too Much Power?

[GodLikeLotus]

I think the UK search market is now so dominated by Google and that the main reason for their success is that the results are the best. I have just found a site on Lycos UK that has not been on-line for nearly 18 months, I find Alta Vista quite similiar, many dead links and missing pages. It is for this reason that so many internet users use Google. Our problem is, and is becoming ever more obvious, that we are at the complete mercy of the Google Gods. What a way to have to build a business, in a world where the major company supplying results offers "No Guarantee" to any web site being listed. Our own site rates equally well on other UK searches but we get very little compared with Google. It seems all we can do is follow all the Google rules and just pray.

[NFFC]

>It seems all we can do is follow all the Google rules and just pray.

It depends on the type of site. In our case we tend to target a primary keyword and a few [less than 10] two worders, three worders take care of themsleves. With this stratagy Google falls to 3rd or 4th place, still important but not make or break.

[buckworks]

We need to take steps to develop promotions that don't depend on Google, because there ARE hiccups sometimes, even if you're not breaking any rules. Been there, done that, and it's not fun.

Among other things, Google glitches have convinced me to

1) develop more mini-sites rather than putting all my eggs in one basket, domain-wise

2) get serious about developing a newsletter

3) test some offline advertising.

The challenge is to develop a broad enough base to provide some stability during Google's ups and downs.

[tbear]

When I arrived at wmw I saw a lot of talk about google, I saw it as some kind of mania....<ducks>
I had kept my last few sites squeaky clean and had high hopes for the future.
Google picked my last site up (had good response from surfer enquiries) then dropped it. (No idea why!)
I thought about asking here if anyone could help,
THEN
What the heck. I don't make sites for google and if they have seen fit to give me pr0 what can I do. An old site of mine (unchanged) with hidden text et al consistently beats me in the rankings, along with others obviously spamming and cloaking. I have done nothing purposefully wrong and I am penalised (it seems).
I'll just keep on and wait for the next new kid on the block! (Google were not around when I made the old site referenced above).
Laughable if it were not so serious!
:)