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How Google Can Make or Break A Small Business

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the something-to-think-about dept.

securitas writes "USA Today's Jefferson Graham reports on how Google affects small business through its rankings and text ads. The feature describes how the fortunes of small companies turned when their Google ranking rose or dropped, as well as the effects of Google's paid search text advertising model. Search Engine Watch says that Google now performs an estimated 80% of the searches (200 million) on the Internet every day. The result is that Google has become a critical part of any online marketing strategy and has spawned a whole Google-optimization industry where consultants can charge $5,000 per site for tweaking. The feature is light on technical details but the stories of those who prospered and suffered due to Google make a good read."

13 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. Google Adwords by glinden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google's AdWords program is remarkable in that truly anyone can buy ads. Small businesses with tiny marketing budgets can buy ads easily. Individuals can buy ads. The interface is simple and easy to use. Google even has a bunch of small business friendly features like limiting your cost per ad and total daily ad spend.

    I've bought a bunch of ads on Google, most recently for my startup, Findory News. Most web advertising is expensive, difficult to set up, and performs poorly. But, because you can pick such specific keywords with Google Adwords and the advertising engine refuses to show ads that don't perform well, you can easily get in front of people that might be interested in them.

    1. Re:Google Adwords by filesiteguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And from the webmaster side, the adwords is fabulous. I have been getting referral emails from companies who have generated actual sales from ads displayed on my sites. The nice thing is that my sites are all niche and usually wouln't see much ad revenue. However, with the targeted ads, we're all winning.

      --
      The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
    2. Re:Google Adwords by goalive · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I agree, Google Adwords are an excellent resource for any business whose goal is to sell something. In addition to that however, the Adwords are also useful to Webmasters particularly because they are always context-sensitive when they appear on a web page.

      In other words, if your webpage text contains a discussion about "intrusion detection systems" it is highly likely that your Google ad banner will have up to four different companies that sell such devices or software. The advantage is that the Webmaster can offer valid commercial links to his free discussion and often make 25-cents per click; the advantage to the retailer is that they have higher exposure and a greater chance of selling their product. The disadvantage to all of us, unfortunately, is that we're still stuck with banner ads long into the forseeable future.

      Regards,

    3. Re:Google Adwords by captain_craptacular · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But are non-intrusive, relevant banner ads such a bad thing? I hate to say it but I've actually been glad to have my attention snagged by relevant ads a few times. The other 90% of the time I have no trouble absolutely ignoring the banners...

      I guess it's a matter of perspective, but I see it as a win for the consumer as well when they are brought together with a merchant who supplies them with something they really wanted or needed. The problem with banner ads in general is that they are usually huge spammy catch alls pimping products that no-one gives a shit about. Googles adwords go a long way towards fixing this problem, at least their ads are somewhat relevant to the subject at hand, whatever that may be....

      --
      They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
    4. Re:Google Adwords by hendridm · · Score: 4, Interesting

      > Small businesses with tiny marketing budgets can buy ads easily.

      I've had different results with AdWords. I wanted to test the waters with it so I set a budget of $1.00/day and 5 cents per click. I was quickly disabled for having "too few clicks" so I increased it to 25 cents per click and had the ad re-enabled. Again, it was disabled because of too few clicks. Finally, I tried raising it to $1.00 per click and again had the same results. I'm not sure what you consider cheap, but paying more than $1.00 per click to get decent placement is not my idea of cheap. I can find better click-throughs elswehere for around 35 cents per click and not be charged $5 to re-enable my ad if it does too poorly. For a small business getting started, it's tough to pay than a dollar or two CPM. A thousand impressions with .5% CT rate doesn't add up to much business, and the money for those ads doesn't grow on trees.

      I've had better click-throughs with Market Banker or ads on Kuro5hin.

    5. Re:Google Adwords by holmesIV · · Score: 3, Interesting
      You seem to be assuming how much you spend per click is the reason you are being disabled. This isn't true. You are disabled if no one clicks on your ad. You need to change your ad until it starts getting clicked on.

      This methodology on Google's part is a win/win. You don't end up with a useless ad that no one is clicking on and they don't end up serving ads people don't want to see.

  2. Ah the good ol' feudal days have returned... by Xpilot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...to cyberspace. So go ahead businesses, pay tribute to your new Google overlords.

    --
    "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
  3. Google needs to tweak too by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Lately I've been noticing that the first five or so hits on searches like

    "Compaq iPaq battery"

    are URLs that look like this:

    http://www.suppabiz.ws/search/results/compaq_ipaq_ battery.html

    Of course said page contains ads for something else or is just a redirect/popup trap.

    Google really needs to use their mad skillz to counteract this. Their algorithm is being screwed by the same type of people who brought us BonziBuddy and all that other worthless shit on the web.

    They came up with the best search engine - I'm sure they can stay on top. But I wonder if they've even noticed, given the massive amount of data they must deal with.

    1. Re:Google needs to tweak too by graveyhead · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Agreed, I noticed the same thing just yesterday. My search was for "ProStar memory installation", and I get dozens of sites which are on the face different, but all point to the same memory dealer.

      It was very difficult to find any actual information about this laptop (other than the marketing crap on the ProStar site) on which I had to perform maintenance. In the end, I gave up the search entirely and just relied on my instincts (which turned out just fine, thanks).

      Is this the $5000 consultants trick? Buy up dozens of semi-related domain names, use a bit of XSLT to make them slightly different, and then tweak the content for your clients? Not only is this very shady, it is going to reduce the effectiveness of Google dramatically :(

      --
      std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
  4. Adwords -Clickbots by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I have been investigating what kind of protection or filtering Google and Overture provide against clickbots and competitor clicking. I am still evaulating Google but Overture (now Yahoo) does very little and will only take action against click fraud if you push them on the issue.

    Here is a paper describing my exchange with Overture on this issue. Summary of paper:

    Overture claims to provide "Click Protection" for their pay-per-click advertising service. In reality they fail to prevent the most basic and easiest to detect non-authentic clicks - that is competitors clicking on competitors. They do not even filter out a customer clicking on their own links from within the Overture manager. Nor do they provide a method for an advertiser to test their own ad rendered URL's - a necessary function as a means to test the validity of an entered URL.

    Since filtering out such clicks would be simple and straight forward using established cookies or session id's - I can only speculate the reasons for not patching this obvious flaw and question the "sophistication of Overtures "Click Protection".


    Since then I have determined by researching one of my own pay-per-click keywords is that Overture will filter out a client that has a cookie if it clicks more than once every 30 minutes.
  5. Make or break? by FreshFunk510 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I know it's just an idiom but I think it's fair to say a Google can help a business "make" it but it doesn't "break" it. The article is all about how fortunate you can be if you have top rank in Google but Google in no way is obligated to help anyone nor does it actually break anybody.

    --


    "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
  6. Google versus Froogle by FreshFunk510 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    An interesting point being brought up by responses on this thread is the informational Google versus the business/products Google. We have 2 scenarios:

    - Searching for "Apple" while looking for information about the company, who is on the board, company history.
    - Searching for "Apple" while looking for an iPod.

    This is an extremely bad example, but the point is I think the problem that Google is running into is that the line between information or selling products is becoming too fuzzy. But I would say that both searches are "legitimate". In the least, the blurring of this line only serves to dilute the search results.

    Maybe a solution would be to move all product/purchase type searches to Froogle and have Google return ONLY informational sites instead of sites that sell products (which seems inline with their original intent).

    --


    "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
  7. Re:$5,000 per site by dubiousmike · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As someone who subscribes to quite a few web marketing/desing/PR/SEO (search engine optimization) newsletters, I have NEVER heard so much bitching as I do from those who are weathering "Florida" which is the nickname they are giving to Google's recent re-ranking.

    Frankly, these small companies who are putting all of their eggs in one basket by relying so heavily upon Google are destined to fail.

    Google did the re-ranking to encourage folks to both pay for Adwords AND to make a push for Froogle (which is free as in you don't have to pay for listings!!)

    Its amazing how people who are getting something for nothing can bitch when that something turns into what they generally have to put into it - nothing.

    SEO isn't rocket science and those who would pay $5000 for it have too much money in their budget. I have achieved #1 rankings without implementing half of what I could to boost them otherwise....