Google's transparency/engagement with small publishers

[TalkativeEditorial]

This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time - considering small publishers are often the first to spot possible issues but the engagement channels are extremely limited (if they even exist at all). I'd like to put forward some bullet points (might even run it as a 'petition' to get signed, but the bullet points have to be clear) in order to get better and more transparent engagement from Google.

I do not envision it being having the top dogs on a Whatsapp group....obviously. However, there needs to be a better way to engage than

1. Being ignored on Twitter or being told that you should go to the forums.
2. Getting useless advice on forums that is a generic copy and paste from the documentation.

Think of it as a union of webmasters and small publishers, kind of.

Would love some feedback and suggestions.

[lammert]

The problem is not on our side. Google has a very limited set of people in a position that they are allowed to talk to the outside world. In search, we can literally count them on one hand: there is not much more beyond John Mueller and Danny Sullivan. Google needs their support layers of the documentation and the product forums to filter most of the information before it even reaches someone with a monthly Google paycheck.

Their social channels are there for PR activities to sense problems and react before there will be disasters which affect their credibility. These channels are not operated to serve the needs of the individual site owner.

The times of fifteen years back when I could email the AdSense email address and get a lengthy personalized response from a real human within days are long gone. And they won't come back. Organization on the webmaster/publisher level won't change that.