2009 May, 1st

Mihaela Lica

You’d think that Google is too big and too important to pay attention to the small voices that rise against its monopoly. But the truth is that the search giant has a powerful PR team that scrutinizes the Web and everything written about the company is carefully cataloged and archived.

This is a company that managed to hire some of the most brilliant minds to protect its interests, and many of these minds never see the spot lights: they work behind the scenes and their involvement with the social part of the web is minimal. They watch, analyze and report back to Google’s stakeholders everything they consider of potential influence.

Does this sound like a “paranoid” scenario? Does this sound like a “conspiracy theory” of a Google hater? Well, then you are wrong. I am not a Google hater. In fact, I admire this company and the people who found it, but what I do hate is Google’s hypocrisy.

Sometimes I think that there is a lot to learn from Google, and I am realistic enough to know that there is no way for a newcomer to dethrone Google’s supremacy in search. The only company that might have a chance to compete with Google is Microsoft and the only way they could do it is by buying Yahoo! and merging search into one system, be it Kumo or anything else. This new search engine should be enhanced with Powerset technology and should also add some social features like rating results. Then Microsoft will need a powerful PR campaign to promote this new search engine. It will need the support of the social media, of the A-list bloggers and sure enough, the support of the mainstream media. But this will go easy: with Yahoo!, Microsoft will control about 30% of the search market. That’s enough to make Google shudder. The news will bring wonders to Microsoft’s “popularity” – and a boost of traffic to the new search engine while the news is hot. The art will then be to keep it hot. But this is another story. Back to Google’s PR campaign.

I said it was sneaky and ambiguous, because you do not actually see Google press releases anywhere. Google’s art of advertising itself is somewhat “unobtrusive“ and many think that Google doesn’t even use advertising. Wrong. Google advertises itself and its services all the time. The brand is everywhere, on all sites that use AdSense to monetize. The advertising hides behind a so called “disclosure” that reads “ads by Google” and also, Google advertises its own sites on top of Google search results.

Since 2007 Google even uses billboards to advertise itself, so the times when Google could simply go on without spending money on ads and PR are long gone.

But this is not the point. Everything Google does generates extreme reactions: either of fanatic support or putrid hate – you choose. Apparently there is no middle way when it comes to Google and why should it be? This is the price one has to pay for being stronger than the average online Doe. As in the real world, the Web is a place where the big fish always swallows the small fish, where appearances deceive and where no one stands a chance if not supported by a powerful voice.

The cases where a nobody makes waves are rare. Take Twitter for example: two years ago they were still struggling to get press, and now there is practically no personality who doesn’t have a Twitter account. This sudden popularity, the unexpected success of an application that is just a little bit better than an old fashioned chat room, doesn’t scare Google, you’d think. Google’s most brilliant minds laughed at Twitter at first – would they ever admit they were wrong? And if they do, how would this affect Google’s “all mighty” image?

I am sure, as we speak, that Google actually considers buying Twitter and considers it carefully. Confirmed or not, rumors of a purchase are probably well founded. Discussing a possible collaboration in search is just smoke they throw in our eyes. Google cannot afford to lose Twitter, but on the other hand, they are probably not able to buy it, due to the latest “anti-trust” developments.

Nobody expects the Obama Administration to try to break up Google, but antitrust scrutiny will create challenges. “Here’s a company that has been very successful, but how do they move forward?” asks Greg Sterling, an Internet analyst in San Francisco. “You’re not going to fund your competitors; you’re not going to stop pursuing your own interests. What do you do?”

If you look at a list of Google’s acquisitions you’ll note that in 2008 they bought practically nothing: Omnisio (for YouTube) and an obscure Korean Weblog software called TNC. All previous years were heavy in acquisitions. They were unable to buy Digg, but this hasn’t stopped them from creating a Digg clone now. This year Google already tried to fool the public opinion by insinuating that they negotiate with Twitter.

Well guess what, they cannot buy anything for the same “anti-trust” reasons mentioned before.
I am amazed no one really seems to notice what is going on. No one even suspects why Wikia Search closed doors, while Google’s Search Wiki remained open. No one seems to wonder why Google creates a Digg like application.

What everyone does is playing Google sneaky PR game. If they can no longer play the acquisitions game, Google had to take a different strategy, one more dangerous than before, but the law, at least this time, doesn’t sleep:

The Department of Justice is now looking into Google’s proposed settlement over its Book Search service, sources tell both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal . The inquiry is said to be focused on antitrust concerns surrounding the online book deal.

I could go on forever, showing how Google is basically trying to control our very lives, enumerating questions that trouble many, but I stop now. The above proves, if any proof needed, that Google is playing a foul game – and I leave the conclusions to you.

• 2009/12/08 -- Google’s Latest PR Boost, Real Time Search, Worldwide
• 2009/05/07 -- Apple Offering to Buy Twitter
• 2009/03/27 -- Social ER Overrun! – State of the Web 2009
• 2009/03/24 -- Facebook as a Traffic Booster
• 2010/02/03 -- China’s Government Is Too Big For Its Britches
• 2010/01/24 -- On Carol Bartz and the State of Yahoo!
• 2010/01/21 -- The State of Bing Search Engine Address

About the Author

Mihaela Lica is senior partner at Pamil Visions PR and editor at Everything PR. She is a widely cited authority on search engine optimization and public relations issues (BBC News, Force for Good, Reuters and others), with an experience of over 7 years in online PR and SEO. Mihaela writes for SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, and other online publications. She also maintains a personal blog called eWritings. Follow Mig on Twitter or send her an email at mig [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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