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Two things I don't get here. First: if I am not happy with my site's placement in google (I don't care, but if I did), and I complain, nobody would even acknow

by smsm42 2y ago

Two things I don't get here. First: if I am not happy with my site's placement in google (I don't care, but if I did), and I complain, nobody would even acknowledge my existence. I have no idea how I could even talk to a live human working for Google. People who get invited to "conversation" are obviously very special. In what way? What did they do to deserve that? Second: certain people built their business on certain aspects of behavior of certain technology that does not belong to them and they have zero control over. These aspects changed, and their business is suffering. I understand their frustration. But why do they expect that the technology owner would do anything to help them? They aren't their paying clients. The technology owner's interests are in no way aligned with theirs. Why do they think anything would be done? Oh, and also - why do they think anything can be done? I mean Google's codebase by now is decades of code stacked on top of older code. Probably nobody even knows how all of it works. I mean some people probably know how some parts work, but overall likely nobody knows why the ranking is such and not other. And each change shuffles things around and some pages go up and some go down. Why should anybody in Google prioritize the complaints of those who went down, and even if they did - it only would result in replacing one group of complainers with a similar group of complainers with identical complaints. It is obvious that there's no perfect ranking that would satisfy everyone, and likely at the complexity it is every change leads to unpredictable chain of rearrangements. Googlers can politely listen to those who got unlucky but they likely can't promise them anything more than that.

deleted 2y ago
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trelawney101 2y ago
I follow another creator who attended this event. Apparently, they filled out a feedback form complaining about how they were wrongfully punished by Google search. More importantly, this creator (and I assume others as well including OP) has a good social following. He has been criticizing Google's treatment of small publishers, how Google AI is stealing content, and how bad the current search results are. The criticism is gaining traction, especially after Google Search's anti-trust trial. So, I am assuming Google wanted to take some steps and thought inviting the loudest voices would help bring the criticism down. I kinda agree with your second point. These people built a business around a technology that they have no control over. But my only reservation is that said technology is Google—a huge monopoly and literally the gateway to the Internet. You can't let huge monopolies that control all entry and choke points go scott-free over these things.
- smsm42 2y ago
  Google is literally NOT the gateway to internet. At most, it's a gateway. I haven't used google for search for many years now, and still manage to be on the internet. There are many alternatives. If people choose not to use them, maybe they need some efucation, but that doesn't change the fact they exist.
  - maltelandwehr 2y ago
    > Google is literally NOT the gateway to internet. Many business models rely on people finding you via Google. Lawmakers and courts in both the US, EU, Russia, Turkey, and other jurisdictions came to the conclusion that Google is in fact a gatekeeper. If that means everyone deserves to rank with their website, is of course an entirely different question.
    - CRConrad 2y ago
      > > Google is literally not THE gateway to internet. At most, it's A gateway. > Lawmakers and courts in both the US, EU, Russia, Turkey, and other jurisdictions came to the conclusion that Google is in fact A gatekeeper. [Emphasis added and capitalisation changed in both quotes -- CRC] Yeah, the GP acknowledged that Google is a gateway to internet; they just denied that they're the gateway. See the difference? That is, according to the quote from you, also what the courts said.
maltelandwehr 2y ago
> What did they do to deserve that? They very loudly complained on X/Twitter and cried about losing all their revenue, business, etc. > Probably nobody even knows how all of it works. That is exactly what Google admitted at the event. They do not understand how to demote all the spam blogs without also demoting legitimate niche websites.

by smsm42 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

trelawney101 2y ago

I follow another creator who attended this event. Apparently, they filled out a feedback form complaining about how they were wrongfully punished by Google search. More importantly, this creator (and I assume others as well including OP) has a good social following. He has been criticizing Google's treatment of small publishers, how Google AI is stealing content, and how bad the current search results are. The criticism is gaining traction, especially after Google Search's anti-trust trial. So, I am assuming Google wanted to take some steps and thought inviting the loudest voices would help bring the criticism down. I kinda agree with your second point. These people built a business around a technology that they have no control over. But my only reservation is that said technology is Google—a huge monopoly and literally the gateway to the Internet. You can't let huge monopolies that control all entry and choke points go scott-free over these things.

smsm42 2y ago
Google is literally NOT the gateway to internet. At most, it's a gateway. I haven't used google for search for many years now, and still manage to be on the internet. There are many alternatives. If people choose not to use them, maybe they need some efucation, but that doesn't change the fact they exist.
- maltelandwehr 2y ago
  > Google is literally NOT the gateway to internet. Many business models rely on people finding you via Google. Lawmakers and courts in both the US, EU, Russia, Turkey, and other jurisdictions came to the conclusion that Google is in fact a gatekeeper. If that means everyone deserves to rank with their website, is of course an entirely different question.
  - CRConrad 2y ago
    > > Google is literally not THE gateway to internet. At most, it's A gateway. > Lawmakers and courts in both the US, EU, Russia, Turkey, and other jurisdictions came to the conclusion that Google is in fact A gatekeeper. [Emphasis added and capitalisation changed in both quotes -- CRC] Yeah, the GP acknowledged that Google is a gateway to internet; they just denied that they're the gateway. See the difference? That is, according to the quote from you, also what the courts said.

maltelandwehr 2y ago

> What did they do to deserve that? They very loudly complained on X/Twitter and cried about losing all their revenue, business, etc. > Probably nobody even knows how all of it works. That is exactly what Google admitted at the event. They do not understand how to demote all the spam blogs without also demoting legitimate niche websites.