How To Compete with Google's Own Products?

[zehrila]

Earlier these were only the big companies Google was going head to head with, such as Microsoft, Mozilla, Yahoo, Facebook etc etc, but now they are continuously spreading their wings in all possible verticals and making it tough for "local retailer" or smaller webmaster to survive. I believe a lot of their recent Algo updates also reflect their own interests to make more money and often not to implement the best practices, since they have too much control over users, they can directly impact on surfer's browsing habits or psychology and force them into thinking and behaving in certain way on internet, which they believe is right or more profitable for them.

Even though i love Google products, but i believe it has started to look ridiculous now. The way Google is expanding and making it difficult for webmasters to survive, shows Google wants it all! the cute white puppy is now turning into a monster.

There are several instances where i have to go head to head with Google in my area and i have no chance to beat them in their own search results, they shove their own results in locations where they want. I am sure there is more yet to come, there will be a point where they will be competing every one and their result pages will be full of their own products, there is too much Greed in Google

The internet would have been a lot better if there was a serious competitor to Google in Search.

[aristotle]

You can resist their promotions. For example, I never click on Youtube in the SERPs, I don't have Adwords or Adsense accounts, and I'll never put Google +1 buttons on any of my websites. Just take the free traffic and ignore everything else.

[Swanny007]

Yes, Google is now trying to be the destination rather than the middle man.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Trying? they are almost everywhere and only getting started. I'm still waiting for a Google toaster though I suspect they had one of those made somewhere too.

Anyway, negative keywords are your friend.

'widgets video -youtube' will show you all widget videos not on youtube.
'hotel rates -google' will show you the top booking sites without Google's input.

You get the idea and here's another - try a Matt Cutts 30 day challenge of not using Google to search for anything, it's the only way to truly know what you're missing in the other search engines.

Disclaimer: I'm frustrated with Google as I write this, not for losing rank but for not being able to maintain it while linking a summer site with a winter site. I'd like to flush their 'secret sauce' down the toilet right now.

[dstiles]

Is Cutts offering a prize for not using google for 30 days? Where can I get an entry form? Haven't used it for a couple of years now! :)

[Montresor]

The way Google is expanding and making it difficult for webmasters to survive

Webmasters use WMT and think, gee, Google is so great. Most of you use Google Analytics instead of paying for the package and feel it's a bargain to give up all of your private business data to Google in exchange. You are so thoroughly in Google's control that you even use Google search operators to check backlinks for your sites and those of competitors and believe the data you receive is unfiltered and useful for gaming Google. The worst is that you RELY on the toolbar.

Don't blame Google. You put your own neck under Google's boot.

[edited by: Montresor at 10:11 pm (utc) on Aug 2, 2011]

[tedster]

There are proactive marketing steps you can take. For example, if Youtube videos show up for a keyword you'd like to rank on, why not work to have one of those Youtube videos be yours?

If the game is changing (and it always is) then our marketing approaches need to change, too.

[Montresor]

why not work to have one of those Youtube videos be yours?

Doesn't it make more sense, when competing against Google, to use a YouTube competitor?

[aristotle]

My advice is to not worry about what Google does, since you can have very little effect on it in any case. I'd rather spend my time reseaching and writing new articles anyway.

[indyank]

Doesn't it make more sense, when competing against Google, to use a YouTube competitor?

I rarely see a video on page 1 or 2 of their SERPS, from a platform other than youtube.

[Web_speed]

Yep, why not? Google Search Quality Team is obviously using agile development methodology, as we do. Probably they have short Sprints (iterations), with tendency to release new stuff in every 2 weeks. I guess they perform kind of A/B testings in monthly or quarterly cycles. The actual objective is to keep the search clean of spam, to provide reliable results and mainly to increase profits for their shareholders (read increase advertising revenue). Once they bring all these parameters to perfection and complete their mission, they will stop doing these ridiculous algo changes, in other words - never! ;)

They should rename the Google "Search Quality Team" to the "Search Position Extortion Team" because this is precisely what they've been doing lately.

Disgusting, monopolistic bully tactics of the worst kind. Indeed, the puppy has turned into a super monster and there is no one or anything stopping them so it seams... they own the Internet, they almost own the mobile tablets and phone market, next... probably TV and news papers...God help us all.

[Montresor]

I rarely see a video on page 1 or 2 of their SERPS, from a platform other than youtube.

That's a reflection of your search habits or you are blind to non-google products. Take your pick. Here are random searches I did. It's not hard to find them. Just do a few searches before you dismiss the notion that there are companies that compete against Google. The Cars Shake it Up Video [google.com]: 3 out of 5 video results are non-YouTube.

Video of how to make spaghetti [google.com]: 5 out of 6 results are non-youtube.

What is YouTube most popular for? Cute cats, right? 5 out of 5 results [google.com] are from YouTube.

Just do a few searches before you dismiss the notion that there are companies out there that compete with Google. Here are more searches. Video of pranks [google.com], How to Make Jello Shots [google.com] and Video of how to rank a video [google.com].


The point is, there are Google competitors. But we don't see them. All we see is Google. That's why in a thread about competing against Google, when the question of competing against a YouTube video is asked, the reflexive answer is a suggestion to compete against Google using Google itself- instead of using a competitor. Our minds are so thoroughly Gorged or washed or whatever you want to call it, that we don't even notice it.

I'm not immune to this either. Google is the default in our minds. It's eerie. But we really have to free our minds.

Is it necessary to give Google our traffic data via Google Analytics?

Is it necessary to give Google our surfing data via the toolbar?

How long before webmasters wake up to the fact that Google uses the pagerank tool for manipulating webmasters to stop engaging in certain behaviors?

When will webmasters wake up to the reality that Google uses the toolbar to lull SEOs into a false sense of understanding of ranking factors, rendering them impotent for actually ranking well?

Is it realistic to use Google Search to game Google Search?

[indyank]

"That's a reflection of your search habits".

I would correct that to "That's a reflection of your niche". And I was never against competition for google and I am never asking people using other platforms.I am just reporting what I am seeing in my niche.If I had by mistake generalized it to all searches, then I am correcting it now.

[indyank]

But it is an ideal time for other to jump into their business model. Google jumps into everything to support their primary business (advertising) and product (search) without any intention of ensuring quality.

YouTube - They don't moderate it aggressively.you will find all kinds of junk videos and comments.
Blogger - ditto
Android and gadgets running on it - Their response will be "ask the manufacturer for any of your problems - we are into it just for advertising".
The list will go on.

But they will ask others to do quality control aggressively. Otherwise panda or something else will eat you. (looks like panda doesn't like the taste of Youtube or blogger). These are gimmicks to make people believe that they are doing everything for users and they are the internet's only saviour.

To compete against them, mimic them. That is what they do.

Why isn't Facebook starting up a search engine? They should be doing it as soon as possible. Google's strength is releasing products quickly.To compete them, you should act quickly. either do something on your own or partner someone aggressively in promoting new products.

Why isn't Microsoft getting aggressive in promoting their search engine or advertising business. if they start giving things free, it will work for them too. They shouldn't be too greedy at retaining everything for themselves and they should jump into products with a "free" and sharing mindset.

Unless those with cash start troubling Google by getting into their business model (at-least partly), it will be difficult to compete against their products.Yes, you might ensure much better quality than the Google products but you cannot capture the market quickly unless you learn to make people believe that you are giving away products for "free" or "you aren't evil". someone should take on their "business model" and not just their products.

[indyank]

For smaller webmasters and the real user community, the web will automatically become useful when there is strong competition.

[shazam]

I am seriously considering selling off 40+ sites that were built up over the last six years. Sadly they're not worth much these days even though many of them boast top 5 serps for highly profitable and competitive keywords.

I've already started in a few new niches that google hasn't decided to destroy yet. It's a big learning curve and investment barrier, but there's really no other option. When an organic rank of #1-#5 is buried below 3 adwords, 7 places, and either related searches, videos, or news, there's not much you can do. I never thought I'd see the day when top rankings would become so worthless. Years of investment and hard work capped off by success in attaining solid rankings amount to almost nothing.

I like the analogy of a road building company. It's ok when one company excels and gets chosen to build most of the roads. It's not ok when the company starts building the roads to bypass all other shops and lead directly to their own shops or big businesses paying them fees that most cannot afford to pay.

I honestly think the wisest thing to do is completely give up on any niche that google has decided to wipe out. The only way to remain is to have such large margins that you can pay the extortion fees.

Thankfully there are still some good niches available, but even these are being infiltrated with the 'push the organic results down' tactics.

[graeme_p]

I do not see ANY evidence that the Google SERPS artificially favour Youtube. It dominates video SERPS for exactly the same reason that Wikipedia dominates SERPS in my niche: it has lots of back links, because everyone puts stuff on Youtube.

For example, I recently linked to trailers for two indie films from my (personal) blog. Both were on Youtube. Where did I get the links from? The film makers web sites. The BBC has an official Youtube channel, so do Monty Python, so do lots of other people. Youtube dominates because that is where most of the popular content is.

Those looking to MS are out of touch with reality. Look at Bing properly. It promotes their own content far more than Google does.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Google can directly impact on surfer's browsing habits or psychology

Very well said and I believe that's the goal. The days of having an unbiased search engine that only ranked 3rd party sites are behind us.