Google Controls the Fate of Small Publishers

Anita Campbell Writes: Google holds the fate of tens of thousands; probably hundreds of thousands of Internet publishing businesses in its hands.

Being kicked out of Google’s search index for some infraction, real or suspected, can mean the difference between thriving, and struggling to stay alive. The bigger and more dominant Google becomes, the more that Internet publishers are dependent on Google and the more this is an issue.

Robin Good wrote this week about this very problem. His Internet publishing business, Master New Media, was dropped from the Google search engine results. Traffic and associated advertising income immediately plummeted.