The whole thing is nonsense. When the phone book, an obvious monopoly promoted their ad services over everyone else in the phone book, it was expected, which is s close equivalent.

I'm actually just sick and tired of all this cynical garbage about Google, not that I'm a big fan, but its hypocritical from most that use adwords and adsense our free organic listings to make your living.to bite the hand that feeds you.

The solution its simple, USE BING! USE YANDEX! nstead everyone wants to get up in googles business and try to tell them what to do. Use a competitor, change the URL, use common sense which seems to be sorely lacking

so stupid...it really is

@incrediBILL I'm not a huge fan of Google either. But until one of these bozos starts innovating better I'll stick with the devil I know.

@fathom ... how will you know if you don't play the game? And the game is never over look an opportunity, or player.

My Bing is about 1 third in TRAFFIC compared to G, but conversion wise is 7% compared to 2% from G. Most times is a better product. Which is heresy on this thread.

In general G is first to market, largest in scope, efficient in delivery, and "brand" in advertising. That will continue. The smart webmaster, however, will not put all eggs in one basket. Hate to use this cliche term recently invented by the language deficient: "just sayin'!"

Frankly, never implied I don't use Bing, Facebook or LinkedIn Ads. I outsouce PPC to an established PPC management company and they decide how to spend the previously agreed budgets.

Organic SEO for Google is all I do. In theory, if I do Google exceptionally well the rest fall in sync based on their similar models. That said, Bing wouldn't be a whole egg IMHO, more like a cracked egg oozing a tad, so stating you have your eggs in different basket based on Bing's reach and penetrating isn't really a game changer. TV ads on ABC, NBC, and CBS would be a game changer.

My previous comment wasn't about the North American industry, though. I have my fingers is everything including Copyright Registration which is something most of my peers have neglected. Google desire to expose the World to all its information, and my revenue streams are diversifying from Google Organic Search to copyright settlements based on Google's reach.

I got my start in the SEO industry based on work done with a Canadian Author that simply borrowed all of Danny Sullivan work at SearchEngineWatch, and published it under her name, violating his copyright. Course if you don't care about your rights, does it really matter if someone steals from you? It does to me.

An enormous new industry for the taking.

It is all about the content rights... RIGHT?

...and certainly not the lame ass value of database driven reviews the EC locked in on.

I'm not a huge fan of Google either. But until one of these bozos starts innovating better I'll stick with the devil I know.

BINGO! You hit the nail on the head.

The competitors SUCK so Google gets punished for being the best of breed.

Since when do we punish people for being the best of the best?

Seriously, how stupid is it to not REWARD those that excel?

Instead, our culture only sang their praises until they got TOO GOOD and suddenly it's a bad thing. I remember when Google was the golden child, the only search engine you could really find things in and everyone loved them. Then they got better but the competition didn't so everyone reviles them for being TOO GOOD!

Is it their fault and even the software giant Microsoft, the company that previously was reviled for being the best of breed and attacked, didn't step up their game?

Perhaps Microsoft is happy playing a hand from the Apple game book and being a fat rich second place with none of the attention the market leader is getting. Bing just silently keeps on chugging away, making money, but much to Microsofts dismay, or is is?, not being in the limelight light Google?

I think Microsoft is the cat bird seat really because they can do whatever they want without nearly as much public ridicule as Apple and Google are not the market leaders getting all the market grief.

Funny what changes a decade can bring!

More funny is that some of us have been here two decades! Sigh.

All of us, without exception I believe I can state, rely on adverts for some aspect of our web presence. That should be a given.

The introduction (as it appears for some on this thread though Ad blockers and script blockers have been around since XP over the last decade and a smidge) of user defined adblocking capability is causing a sudden panic.

It isn't that sudden, just came to a head recently, and those who have been watching (and using!) these products have made their movements into other revenue generating streams. And a few have actually installed their own advertising units to aggressively go after those dollars---and they have found that original magic that made print advertising work so well, as that same print advertising still continues to top most other advertising alternatives (ie. third party ad networks).

Advertising is not dead. Some methods of how it is done may not work as well, or may disappear altogether, or be regulated to the lowest level of web advertising and a resulting loss of "value" and "revenue".

This thread is so quirky... and yet so necessary for the future of sites that rely on advertising to either survive or be a business model. All in all, passions included, this has been grand fun and education for many.

TV ads on ABC, NBC, and CBS would be a game changer.

Exactly. Do advertising AS THEY DO (in house and charge for it) puts the revenue where it belongs, a result of your web publication.

That's where this will eventually lead, and so few will be able to accomplish, so the "ads on the cheap via a network" will continue for some time.

No doom and gloom, kiddies. Just reality. :)

Advertising is not dead. Some methods of how it is done may not work as well, or may disappear altogether, or be regulated to the lowest level of web advertising and a resulting loss of "value" and "revenue".

But advertising will adapt, it always has and always will.
The issue for publishers is keeping up with the changes.
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Yikes! While I take nothing back in the two above.... I just realized I was replying (I just look at the last message posted, perhaps the last two) and just realized the comments were really intended for another thread.

Yet... still fits with the Google War On Europe in that there's really no EU centric competitor for Google and those who want to succeed will need to find other alternatives. And that can be done in the EU, too!

That's where this will eventually lead, and so few will be able to accomplish,

I'm not so sure about that.

The delivery system and tracking methods may have to change, but advertisers want to go where their audience is.

I'm (totally) guessing the ad networks might start to lean more towards acting as middlemen in the agency model. Time will tell.
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@tangor ...been there, done that as well.

Ipad default browser is Safari but added Chrome yet WebmasterWorld email notifications go to Safari where I often forget to close the previously reviewed thread. But not all posts are interchangeable.

The delivery system and tracking methods may have to change, but advertisers want to go where their audience is.

Yes. But will the Publishers be able to accommodate? See the long and winding Ad Blocking thread still on-going [webmasterworld.com...]

If the publisher can't deliver...

Time will tell. Things are changing... more than has been reported or observed at this time. But the blinders are off for many and the view is quite different than it was in 2011.

But will the Publishers be able to accommodate?

I'd guess the vast majority of those making any even modest amount of money (few hundred monthly) via ads today could accommodate the new approaches. Will they have the opportunity to do so is another question.

But yeah, maybe this belongs in another thread.