To piggyback on the conversation, coming from a small business that has seen a reconsideration request wait in hibernation without a reply for over 40 days, the bigger issue that I would hope more journalists would start to shine the light onto is the lack of transparency and need for regulation of Google search by an independent entity.
The reality is that Google generates 60 Billion in revenue and close to 20 Billion in profits, but more importantly they single handily control the fate of millions of companies and influence probably a trillion dollars of commerce on a global level every year.
They create a set of rules that they apply on a very subjective basis.
Just one example, ever get hit with a thin content penalty?
Google has a video out that creating pages to market cities in every state appears against guidelines, I guess they forgot to tell that to Zillow (dominates google search for mortgage rates/city search) without real content and simply a rate widget advertisement feed, and there are hundreds of these examples out there.
Yet in a statement made over the porn model lawsuit, here was googles reply:
"Search engines are neutral platforms that do not create nor control content on the web,” Google said in a statement to CNN. One of the interviewees in the CNN video argued that the creators of content should be held responsible, not the search engines.
The rap genius penalty has already been highly publicized, but here is a good recap of how quickly the penalty was lifted.
This is beyond frustrating for small businesses to see this quick turnaround, when most small business owners are sent to the google webmaster forum, where they have to try to get problems solved by volunteers and not actual employees.
What small business owners need is a real voice and oversight to provide a tangible path back into the index, as opposed to the vague answers and rules that apply differently.
Google should be required to provide real employees supporting their web forums
Google should be required to provide clear examples of why a website was removed
Google should be required to provide clear timelines if a penalty has been placed on a website
Small business are pushed out of business when they are removed from Google, it’s time for some real change and forced transparency
