Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Google's Free Urchin will Create Many Urchins As Competition Struggles

Google is walking a thin line on this issue... well thin if you don't want to be called the Evil Empire. Small tracking and analytic companies will be having a tough Christmas thanks to the Grinch That Stole Analytics....

They will get the small guy who really does not have anything in place....
They may get the naive companies - agencies and inhouse alike - who do not know what they are giving up...
They will get the people who do not value their privacy...
They will get ALOT...

Why not give them access to all your information beyond what you do at Google...
Why not let them see where you have successful traffic from publishers...
Why not allow them to develop online activity information on your industry...

THE FIRST BATTLE WILL BEGIN OVER PRIVACY

I have spoken to a lawyer and her reading of the privacy statement and the T&Cs does not restrict Google from using the information you and they are gathering... and as they are hosting the results... possession is 9/10ths of the law....


What is to stop them from using the information about those solid little publishers you have developed... making them offers for a higher return on placing Google Ads.

What is to stop them from using the information to provide your competitors with industry (though obviously not your individually) specific data that ultimately takes the edge off of all that groundbreaking work you have done.

This is one area Google really should have stayed out of... offer a little free bid management and some simple ROI program - Okay it is not too roboust and the vast majority will not use it - it is a curtesy. But to figure here is another area to conquer... knock out the competition and create another huge industry lead... one way of not having to deal with click fraud...

The claim of Church and State I guess only applies to PPC and organic search - not any of the other aspects of the industry.

What is next? Free SEO seminars - hey who better - people would come out of the woodwork to see Matt Cutts give pointers on optimizing hoping to get a glimpse behind the curtain.

Seems Google always has some big surprises around the holiday season.

1 comment:

  1. Just as I am trying to move from alpha to beta at clickbench.com the roof caves in :)

    But, as I pointed out elsewhere, it is important to consider all of a potential partners' activities before consumating the relationship.

    The blackhats are not going to avoid urchin. They're going to game it for everything it's worth. Yes, there is a way...

    ReplyDelete