"Sites Become Dependent on Google"

Article in the New York Times about the monopoly of Google

[awcabot]

Interesting article in the New York Times about the monopoly of Google. Issues that were discussed here a year ago and that seem to have been picked up finally by the Gray Lady.

Sites Become Dependent on Google [nytimes.com]
It seems however to be a bit outdated. Maybe readers here can elaborate: will Google punish you for using software to monitor site placement?
I do not think it should nor do I think it actually does.

[jackofalltrades]

This was discussed yesterday - a couple of WW members were interviewed for the article.

JOAT

[lazerzubb]

[webmasterworld.com...]

[rogerd]

will Google punish you for using software to monitor site placement?

Absolutely. Usually, the punishment is blocking the IP address used for running the automated searches. There are occasional reports of domain penalties, but presumably these situations are rare due to the ease of a competitor running repetitive searches related to another site.