Direct Answers

A recent Wall Street Journal article focusing on Google and statements made regarding "more direct answers" in search results has several webmasters in a tizzy. It seems whenever a search engine as important as Google says the words changes, future and direct in the same paragraph some people lose their minds. Now, before the torches come out I do work in the website design industry and understand that Google is not perfect, who among us is? However, I do think there are a limited number of webmasters who become hysterical whenever Google puts out a press release.

What I find most interesting is that many of these same webmasters have time to post multiple comments on industry related blogs screaming and gnashing their teeth about Panda and other search engine algorithm changes. The intriguing part of all of this is that many of these comments mention things like “I was trying to monetize this site and its content by increasing ads on the page and suddenly my visitor count dropped”. You mean to say that you were trying to make money by adding additional advertising on a website and you’re upset because Google didn't reward you? You have heard of capitalism haven't you? You know the market place that determines value and sets a price for it.

Google doesn't owe anyone anything and we don't owe Google anything. (I mean as internet users and webmasters, of course ad words etc. is another topic altogether). Unless we own a majority share in Google we don't get a say in what direction the search engine takes, nor should we. Google, like every business is striving to put out the best product it possibly can, it is not and should not be concerned about how your website visitor count is doing.

It is our job to figure out the best way to promote and market our website, anything we get from Google, Bing or other search engines is a bonus. Complaining about what Google does with it's search engine while your own visitor count drops is kind of like complaining to the waiter on the Titanic about how under done your steak is after the ship hit the iceberg.