Google toolbar move raises online ire | Tech News on ZDNet: “…. some critics charge that AutoLink takes the liberty of modifying Web pages to direct people the way Google sees fit. Microsoft took the same approach with its Smart Tags feature years ago and eventually pulled it because of trust and trademark concerns.
‘Google is to the Web what Microsoft is to PCs–the operating system everyone uses to search. It has nearly the same lock on consumers’ share of mind…And millions use the Google Toolbar. They shouldn’t get away with what Microsoft was unable to,’ Steve Rubel wrote on Wednesday on his Micropersuasion blog.”
(Thumbs up to Steve for being quoted in the article. See? Responsible Bloggers are also often credible and perfectly legitimate news sources.)
And I think he’s right, by the way. My husband Google is going to have to sleep in the closet tonight – Strange Love style. I’ll have to treat him like Brigitte Neilsen treats that dude Matia if this continues.
On the one hand, yes, we’re all fabulously lucky to be listed in Google for popular keyword terms. After my latest experiment I cracked the top ten for two notoriously hard keywords in just under a month, following my own advice from the Google Blog connection, and I can’t say I’m upset about the search engine surge of traffic to my blog.
Still, that’s Google’s main function in life – one could argue that if it weren’t for sites with content, Google would also be off the map. They’re just as much in our debt as we are to them, if you think about it. So, I have to agree with Steve.
I don’t think Google meant anything evil by it. They should admit their mistake and give us a tag to surpress it from the meta header. No, I’m not going to boycott Google. But I almost went on strike today and made today Yahoo Tuesday….
