How Google Can Make or Break A Small Business

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."

Comments

Newest version of the Google Toolbar

[Alien54]

and in a new twist, the latest version of the google toolbar returns results with the page one results being filled with nothing but ads related to the search. you have to go to page 2 for the standard results.

so the google toolbar, which is pretty cool because of the simplicity in design of the p[opup blocker, now has been twisted into a major marketing tool. Thankfully I have an earlier version I can use to install on client machines.

no more downloading the most recent version from the website.