Google is Sued by Texas Attorney General

Search Engine Optimization specialists have some news for the Texas Attorney General, "we already know a lot about how Google's ranking algorithm works."

Friday's late announcement indicates that the announced that the lawsuit seems is be about whether or not Google is using unfair competition to gain advanatage over its search engine competitors.

This sounds strangely familiar.  Remember U.S. v Microsoft?  Innovative organizations beware.  If you are wildly successful, you too will probably be sued because your competition can't win in the marketplace.

While the Yahoo news article states that nearly two thirds of U.S. searches are run through Google, other sources indicate the number is as high as 85%. 

We've always understood that Google is a business.  If you understand that they are in the business to give the best results and therefore the algorithm is a scoring engine for the "best results." If you understand how they go about determining best results then you can understand how to get better positioning for your site. 

And Google's initial response to the lawsuit is exactly what we expected.  In order to be successful as a search engine, theyy strive to give the user what he wants. It is counterintuitive for a business to not deliver top service and still expect to be number one. 

If a business goes about finding out how to be the favorite, does that create an unfair advantage?  When it is wildly successfully should it then be required to even the playing field again?  Should Google adjust its search results to avoid the lawsuits by TradeComet and others?  If Google manipulates the outcomes of its search results then it is guilty of the charges.  Of course Google products are going to be promoted highly in its own search engine. 

In the end I think Google will ultimately follow Microsoft's path and make a concession or two that it can afford to make.  Microsoft found itself in court from 1993 to 2004 when a final settlement was reached.  Most considered the settlement to be a slap on the wrist for Microsoft.  

It's ironic that Google claims Microsoft is supporting the companies behind the suit because of the indirect ties to the companies.

--Denise

 Read the news article on Yahoo news.

Comments

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This sounds like a page-turner. I'd love to learn more about this case. Thanks for sharing.