A World Without Google
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I wanted to write a post this morning about a world without Google. So of course I Googled the title first. Not surprisingly it has been done before. Tim Dowling of The Guardian back in 2004 mused about that when Google was off-line for a few hours. A much more profound review was done by Harry McCracken only a few weeks ago and it really is an excellent account of the many ways Google is there to help.
My thoughts were at a more cerebral level so I soldiered on. Indeed a Vancouver Sun article this morning suggests that Google is good for our cerebrum (brain).
Searching the Internet may help middle-aged and older adults keep their memories sharp. U.S. researchers at the University of California Los Angeles studied people doing web searches while their brain activity was recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. “What we saw was people who had Internet experience used more of their brain during the search,” Dr. Gary Small, a UCLA expert on aging.
My thoughts were more about the way Google is helping us explore cyberspace. Without them it would be hazardous to wander given some of the untrustworthy and malevolent websites that are out there. There would be even more need for the services of companies like Comodo that seek to provide the basis for a “Trusted Internet“.
Most of us are far too trusting as we surf the web. Most often we do not come to serious harm. Even in this Google world, it is important to deal with online businesses that have secure socket layers to maintain privacy. Thankfully there are free firewall and antivirus software that can protect against many untrustworthy websites.
My other thought, which was the genesis of this post, was the way in which Google has so dramatically changed Internet marketing. It is a little like the way Google Maps now allows us to see details even of our own homes. Before the Internet, one fable that was often recounted was that of the creator of the very best mousetrap in the world. Unfortunately he lived deep in the forest and could never be found by potential clients. It was suggested that if he had done some marketing, then he could have made some sales.
Clearly Google can be a major factor in generating online sales. They are an important factor in how prospects find potential suppliers. However it is useful to challenge thinking by considering how one might market on the Internet if Google and the other search engines did not exist. That thought came to me in writing the next article on The Blog for the series MRN - Marketing Right Now. That article will be appearing on Tuesday the 21st of October.
What would you do differently on the Internet, if Google and the other search engines did not exist? If you have some thoughts on this, why not comment below.
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October 15th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Hi Barry,
My guess is that in a world void of search engines, online marketing would take form perhaps by way of network and affiliate marketing not unlike how online advertising was done before the advent of search marketing came into existence.
I see that ad networks similar to Google’s content network would likely be a major force in online advertising except that the larger networks would be managed by entities other than search engines. I image that it would be necessary to advertise on a wide variety of networks to have a comparable reach but most likely not the same degree of targeting that the search engines, namely Google offer today.
On a personal level, I would likely be involved in managing campaigns on those networks instead of on the search engines’ platforms or who knows, I might be doing something altogether different like managing Ebay auctions as I did in a past life.
I wonder how innovative the other engines / portals would have been if Google’s rapid rise to success had not sent most of them the way of the dinosaur?
October 16th, 2008 at 3:27 am
Interesting topic indeed. Well, i guess it would be very hard to live on internet without google and other search engines. That is very said fact. I guess biggest profits then would take best domain names as we would all need to type keyword domains in order to find something. But luckily we do have google. It would be very good if Google had better competition, because it’s like a industry game.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
The interesting thing is that there are a lot of marketers who do very well without Google. There are some that rely on MySpace or FaceBook. Others rely on email and networking (the old fashioned way, both online and off). Generally, these tend to be solopreneaurs or infopreneurs or whatever tag you want to give them, rather than companies.
That being said, many companies use offline methods, such as trade shows, brochures and advertising to drive traffic to their websites.
For whatever reason, SEO has always come easier to me, but I am about to embark on a project that really will depend more on offline PR and online networking for success. If Google comes along to play, that’s just a bonus.
October 18th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Hello Barry - nice post.
It’s not that Google is just important to advertising and to generating online sales - it’s that they ARE advertising and online sales. Disappear from Google, and you are essentially done. I know there are a few peculiar cases where that has not been the case, but I shudder to think how my business would fare if that happened to us.
October 19th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Interesting topic indeed. That is very sad fact. It would be very good if Google had better competition.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Google is just too big, I hope Yahoo will make it.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Intereting topic ! the internet without google? can anybody imagine?