Report: Search Firms Parasites?

[Chris Boggs]

According to this article (http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story1120.shtml) found in this month's Danny Sullivan update, "search has now become a tool that can be exploited, with specialist agencies paid big bucks by big business to improve their position in search results."

Continuing by comparing search firms to "parasites," Hart questioned the playing field in the game of search engine rankings. Can smaller companies continue to compete for highly sought-after terms?

Please vote and post your thoughts.

[I, Brian]

I seem to recall a few people commenting that search engines are parasitically living off webmasters and their content. :)

So if small search forms are essentially empowered webmasters, then who is feeding off whom? :)

[Chris Boggs]

Thanks B for the response. Excellent point. This is certainly a symbiotic relationship.

Based on the various definitions (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=define%3Aparasite) for "parasite," there seems to be a consensus that the parasite lives off the host without benefit to the host. So perhaps if they are each benefiting themselves by their own parasitic behavior, this actually fits. We cannot, IMO, say that one is the parasite of the other.

[SnowBound]

Thanks B for the response. Excellent point. This is certainly a symbiotic relationship.

Based on the various definitions (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=define%3Aparasite) for "parasite," there seems to be a consensus that the parasite lives off the host without benefit to the host. So perhaps if they are each benefiting themselves by their own parasitic behavior, this actually fits. We cannot, IMO, say that one is the parasite of the other.

For some time I have personally viewed this relationship as one of need. Both rely heavily upon each other yet tend to fight each other from day to day.
Without the webmasters the search engines would not exist. Before the results can be delivered, before the spiders can crawl, the webmaster must do their job. So the search engines live entirely off the work of the webmaster by delivering the information as requested by the intended recipient. A lot of work goes into doing this and doing it well.
If there were no search engines?
Webmasters would need to advertise their work via alternate methods. Many of those methods are being used today in conjunction with search engines. Linking related sites together is one of those methods that would be, and is today, very important. Printed material, direct mail, email, television ads, and the list goes on and on, are all viable and alternate methods of getting your information to the public. Webmasters are not as dependant upon the search engine as the search engine is dependant upon the webmaster. The SE’s do not have the alternate advertising processes to deliver information if the information never existed.
Search engines are businesses not so different than any other business whether on the W3 or behind a store front. We all rely upon the work of others in more ways than there is room here to discuss. As with every relationship there comes rules. Just like raising a child, rules are set and expected to be followed. When the rules are broken, there must be some form of punishment. Conversely, when the rules are followed, the rewards are gathered and cherished.
Everyone will break a rule from time to time. Here is where we seek help and the need arises to have an ombudsman from time to time. This is a wide open territory that the SEO could explore and the SE’s should try to work with dedicated honest SEO firms. I would love to see a system empowered that would allow both parties to work through differences. I personally have made many mistakes with one SE when trying to get a site found in another. The intent was not the implied result but the outcome was disastrous. Now those links inbound to these old sites are dead links to a big mistake by me.
SEO I am not, just a father and a husband with a passion for the web. We run a website about camping, we sell nothing, charge nothing for the service, link to every related camping site that we regard as relevant or noteworthy. We use commission junction links to help pay for the hosting and supply links to maps and camping gear. Amazon Affiliate links to books that we personally like and find excellent reference material for family camping. The site has never made a profit and was never intended to do so. Thankfully the SE’s love it and send a tremendous amount of traffic to it.
So in conclusion, parasite, well in a loose form of the term maybe. SE's and webmasters are nothing more that a limited partnership in the new world of marketing. Each needs each other in the end result. Which one is most important depends upon which desk you sit at. It’s kind of like that old which came first cliché.
Have a good day everyone :)

[projectphp]

Can smaller companies continue to compete for highly sought-after terms?
Big companies do dumb, bulk, mass amrketing and, due to massive turnover, can afford to. Smaller comapnies must have every dollar spent on advertising and marketing accountable. True of offline, will inevitably be true of online.

So what. You accpet that and you move on. If you are a small business, you either become a larger business, try to get bought out by a larger business, or you work smarter. SEO is no different.

No, smaller companies can not continue to compete for highly sought-after terms because, by their very nature, highly sought after terms have a lot of competition and will be difficult to do well on, free or paid.

So what? Why does a small b&B with solid bookings need to rank number one for vacation? Smaller firms should be working smarter, and finding ways, not to compete, but to outflank.

The Viet Cong weren't successful because the could or wpould compete with the US in a direct fight. Instead, they used their difference to advantage.

Business is the same. Can't affort a front page ad in the NY Times? Find a small local newspaper. Can't afford the CPC for "Vacation", be specific.

Even then, large firms are slow and ponderous. They can afford to pay for SEO, but they may not have the resources to do SEO well, if at all. There is plenty of room for nimble, active smaller companies to do very, very well. But compete on "highly sought after phrases"? Perhaps not.