The search giant has the power to make or break the media, Julian Lee writes, but the industry seems powerless to kill off the beast it helped create.They call it fear of Google, or FOG for short. That feeling in the small hours when you sit bolt upright in bed in sheer terror at how much your livelihood relies upon an algorithm. That the traffic to your website, the clicks that result in sales leads, indeed your entire presence in cyberspace, hinges on a search engine – the formula for which is as closely guarded a secret as Coca-Cola’s recipe.That formula can change any time and you won’t even know it, until, that is, your company’s ranking on Google’s all important home page sinks like a stone to the bottom of a well. Or rises to the top.
http://business.smh.com.au/business/google-monster-20090814-el49.html
http://business.theage.com.au/business/google-monster-20090814-el49.htmlAlso see:Those secret herbs and spices
Google turned the advertising model on its head. Rather than interrupt people with ads it came up with the novel idea of serving up an ad in response to a specific inquiry. Instead of giving the top spot to the advertiser prepared to pay the most, it came up with a blind auction model.
http://business.smh.com.au/business/those-secret-herbs-and-spices-20090814-el4h.html