Google is largely a monopoly now. Google now competes with their own customers in select fields, skimming content off Wikipedia and showing it separately without attribution or links. They now show their own results in the top of the page, in the middle, at the botttom, and on the right. And they excerpt other content with little or no regard for authorship or copyright or link. Webmasters are now facing competition not just from other websites, but also from Google itself.
Google’s competition is based on three goals:
- 1. get visitors to stay on Google resources to maximize ad opportunities;
- 2. get $ from advertisers & those seeking top SERP listings; and
- 3. where possible, to avoid revenue sharing by keeping traffic & clicks to Google sites.
- You’ll note that often in the SERPs the top sites don’t have adsense usually on their site. Adsense Arbritrage is finished.
It is noticeable that Content Partners revenue increased less than Google Ad Revenue last quarter. Not surprising, but perhaps an unintended consequence of the rebalancing of the listings. Perhaps not.
Unlike monopolies of the past, though, you are one click away from using an alternative.