Matt McGee over at Search Engine Land commented about the fact that Google advertises competition on a business’ Place page. Now, you may think that your business place page is your own, to provide information and for feedback to come back for those hardy enough to care to comment on something as massive as a Google site. I’m of the mind that this massive integration is a fad and people will eventually move away from it for a closer knit social interaction. But the fact that Google advertises competition should not be a surprise to anyone. The best way to make money in a conflict is to sell weapons to both sides. It drives up the price due to scarcity, and it keeps the conflict going. The fact that the battlefield is owned by Google is even more remarkable since they can design it in the best possible way to increase the costs to advertisers and effect the dynamic so that consumers click the links that generate revenue for Google itself since it is completely internal. Eventually, you’ll never leave Google and be caught in an endless loop of clicks. Sort of like a Facebook of search engine optimization. I’m not sure if they’ll flip a switch and turn off the competition links, or if your Adsense filtering can weed out competitors too close for comfort. But at this point, I think it is pretty unethical while at the same time smart business. There is a cognitive dissonance when it comes to business and ethics because some people will think that its purely smart business; sell the weapons to both sides. Meanwhile they don’t realize that the are paying higher prices because of it.
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