Think again.

Google are pushing towards a fully advertiser search results page.

Over the last few years, this has become more and more pronounced.

I have read about small companies who have had all their hard work to get to the top of the search results stolen bu Google.

Basically, if you say no to Google when they approach you for any reason, they get nasty and put you out of business.

It used to be just small operators, but now they cheerfully manipulate the search results to screw over big organisations.

"As long as any market has at least two competitors in it Google can create a "me too" offering that they hard code front & center and force the other two players (along with other players along the value chain) to bid for market share. If competitors are likely to complain about the thinness of the me too offering & it being built upon scraping other websites, Google can buy out a brand like Zagat or a data supplier like ITA Software to undermine criticism until the artificially promoted vertical service has enough usage that it is nearly on par with other players in the ecosystem.

Google need not win every market. They only need to ensure there are at least two competing bids left in the marketplace while dialling back SEO exposure. They can then run other services to redirect user flow and force the ad buy. They can insert their own bid as a sort of shill floor bid in their auction. If you bid below that amount, they'll collect the profit through serving the customer directly, if you bid above that they'll let you buy the customer vs doing a direct booking."  

"Dipping a bit back into history here, but after Groupon said no to Google's acquisition offer Google promptly partnered with players 2 through n to ensure Groupon did not have a lasting competitive advantage. In the fullness of time most those companies died, LivingSocial was acquired by Groupon for nothing & Groupon is today worth less than the amount they raised in VC & IPO funding."

Both quotes from http://www.seobook.com/brands-vs-ads.

The only way you can have any hope of long-term success is to build your email list.

It won't be long before the only way you will be able to build that list will be via buying clicks from someone else's list.

Unless you would prefer to buy your traffic from Google at their ever-increasing prices.

Regards,

Brent.

P.S.  There is a solution, at least a partial one.

You can build a presence on Kindle and Amazon.

Set yourself up with multiple books and Amazon will drive the traffic for you.

The difference between Amazon and Google is that Amazon makes money when you make money. 

Google only earns money from selling you clicks or if they make the sale themselves.

It's in Amazon's best interests to help you make more money. 

It's not in Google's best interests to do the same.

Get smart and go where the platform helps you.

Learn more here.

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