As Google launches Knol, its weapon to battle Wikipedia, many ask themselves if Google will dominate its own search results, which in search, already dominates the market.
Forbes.com posted a very interesting article (I believe it came from PaidContent.org – want to cite the right source,) “Iteration #419: Is Google A Content Company?” which poses a great question, maybe a great threat to many. Once we start seeing Knol results popping up in the searches above most Wiki articles, then we can become really suspicious of any Google funny business, but for now, there hasn’t been much proof of that as it states in the article.
Let’s think about Googles platform and how they come into play with search results:
1) YouTube – The number one leading site dominates in the video space. Almost every video displayed in search is a Youtube video which now provides advertising for publishers and advertisers.
2) Blogger – Blogger is one of the largest free blogging platforms on the web and continues to grow.
3) Google Maps – When typing in any location, city, state, etc…the first result you will get is an image of Google maps to get directions, etc.
4) Movies – When you type in the name of the name (for example Pineapple Express,) you will find that the first search result is a Google result of movie times, reviews, and more.
5) Shopping – When you look for an item such as a fragrance, the first results you will find are Googles shopping results of its own platform formerly known as Froogle. Though Google doesn’t capitalize on this YET, it’s in its best interest to have this platform because of Google checkout (a PayPal equivalent)
In the article, it states, “According to Jason Calacanis, the chief executive of Mahalo, a competition of sorts to Knol, it is possible that with YouTube, Knol, Blogger and other company sites, Google could take three of the top 10 results in some searches, thus alienating Web publishers that are Google’s advertising partners, even if there is no indication that Google artificially favored its sites. ‘
As Google continue to develop its properties, will they have favorable search results? If so, how will that affect the scope of search in the future? So, the question stays, is the Goog a content company or advertising company? More search results and properties equals more advertising dollars. I’d say an advertising company creating content to place more ads (Adsense) which generates most of its advertising dollars along with Adwords that go hand in hand.
