Germany Wants Google to Reveal How They Rank Websites

[mrengine]

To address Google's "exceptional" power in Europe, Germany's justice minister Heiko Maas has called on the search company to reveal how it creates search engine rankings.

"When a search engine has such an impact on economic development, this is an issue we have to address," he told the Financial Times.

Google handles around 70 percent of web searches in the US, whereas in Germany and France it's closer to 95 percent, according to StatCounter. Comscore meanwhile estimated in February Google had about 75 percent of the overall European search market.

Maas also said that breaking up Google would be a "last resort", but that it is too early to begin considering such a move.

[zdnet.com...]

[superclown2]

So if he gets to know the secrets the rest of us will too. We'll all make hay for a while whilst Google sinks under billions of spam pages.

For once I'm with Google on this. A trade secret should remain a secret. Will the Germans want the famous soft drinks manufacturer's recipe as well?

[ronin]

Will the Germans want the famous soft drinks manufacturer's recipe as well?

Only, I imagine, if the soft drinks manufacturer in question starts to have an impact on economic development across Germany and the EU equivalent to that exercised by Google.

It's not Google's fault that it has been so successful as to become the "keeper of the keys" to the world wide web. Arguably, it's a tremendous and commendable achievement.

But it's not desirable for the wider economic sphere that such a "keeper of the keys" should exist at all, however that anointed organisation achieved its position.

[engine]

I don't think that they have the right to know anyone's recipe or algo, but they do have the right to investigate where there is an apparent monopoly. It's the law that we all have to follow in the countries that respect that system.

>It's not Google's fault that it has been so successful

I agree to an extent as it's down to the users using it, and some clever marketing by google to get itself into that position.

I cannot believe Google would take the risk of favoured imbalance in the SERPs, but I can see it downgrading the rank of sites that don't comply with its guidelines. If it did boost its own properties and opened itself up to scrutiny it would run the risk of severe penalties if it was caught enhancing ranking of its own sites.

Many consumers are "locked in" to Google, even though many don't realise it.
I think that's where there's a bigger problem, not with ranking, imho.