Google and Yelp: The Future of Content Peeks around the PR Baloney
March 7, 2011
My personal view is that content is undergoing a bit of chemical change. The idea that authors are important seems to be eroding. The new value is an online system that generates content from software, volunteers, paid contributors, and sucking goodies from different places. There is no single word that encapsulates these trends. I wish there were. With the right word I could explain what is at the core of the unsolvable problem for Google and Yelp. You can get the core of the hassle in “Google Issues Ultimatum to Yelp: Free Content or No Search Indexing.” One interesting comment in the write up was this passage:
The issue has been ongoing for several years. However, Stoppelman said there is no answer to it at the moment, while Google maintains the same position.
I thought Google had the world’s smartest employees. Yelp has some sharp folks as well. No solution. So we have a new example of an unsolved problem. The Yelp Conundrum is right up there with The Goldbach conjecture. Well, that suggests that neither company is as smart as I thought it was or both companies have what I call a “power” problem.
Yelp is performing in an area where Google is not doing too well. Google wants the Yelp content and will remove Yelp from its index unless Yelp buckles under. When I read this story I thought about Google’s position when China pulled a power play. Now Google seems to be throwing its traffic power around.
Interesting.
With Bing and Yahoo accounting for 12 percent of Web search and Google most of the other traffic, Google’s position strikes an interesting chord with me.
Let’s assume that Google arbitrarily excludes Yelp. What does this say about objectivity in indexing? What does this make clear about Google’s ability to adjust an index manually? No matter how smart Google’s software is, the decision to block or otherwise hamper Yelp tells me quite a bit.
And what about Yelp? Is the company playing hardball because a potential tie up fell through? Is Yelp the most recent casualty of Google’s effort to expand via acquisition, not organic growth?
Too bad I am not a lawyer. I would have an informed opinion. As an observer from far off Kentucky, I see a glimpse of the future for new content environment.
Stephen E Arnold, March 7, 2011
Freebie
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One Response to “Google and Yelp: The Future of Content Peeks around the PR Baloney”
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I’ve been saying for a while that its not what you can find on Google but what you can’t find. It would be a huge mistake for Google to exclude Yahoo and Yelp from search. That would leave a gaping hole in user-generated reviews, which people have come to depend on for community opinion on restaurants, bars and other small businesses.