| On 09.14.09, In Internet Usage, Search Engines, Social Networks, by bhupendra |
Wow! Big Mouth Media has reported that BBC is paying Google to improve its search rankings. BBC has a cool 3.97 Billion Euros of guaranteed revenue from the TV liscense fees, and can spend good amount to promote its online service.
According to the news report, BBC spends Euros 114 Million for online marketing. And majority part goes to Google,
where BBC targets and bids certain keywords and topics such as the Mercury Music Prize winner.
By paying to achieve top search results, BBC is capitalising on its success, causing further consternation among other media organisation who have long been wary of the Corporation’s impressive online presence. The gap is sure to widen as new or smaller players with BBC as they cannot compete with the might of BBC irrespective of quality service.
Analysis
I see no wrong in BBC doing this. Everyone plays his best to get maximum marketing returns, and BBC seems to be highly dependent on Google rankings.
CNN has heavily depended on Twitter and has been a early entrant in the Micro-blogging World. CNN promoted Twitter and Twitter referred CNN for follow. It was a mutual gain.
In India, IndiaTimes.com is owned by ‘Times of India’ group and they promote the online service from all their channels including best selling NewsPaper ‘Time of India” and best selling Economic News Paper “Economic Times”. When Times Group launched ‘ET NOW’, a Business News Channel, the promotion was seen in online channels (including Google) too.
Phenomena is simple and fair. And as long as Google does not apply a internal business rule to promote BBC and punish its competitors, its all fine. I see no wrong. Insead I appreciate the BBC’s belief in Search Engines.
BBC is already active in Youtube after signing a deal with Google. Under the deal, BBC videos are hosted on Youtube.
BBC ruled the Online News Market by partnering Google for Search Engine Ranking and Youtube Video Promotion. It guaranteed them good lead over competitors such as CNN. But the lead is dinimishing and Micro-Blogging Lover CNN has closed the gap quite well. Figure below.
If Alexa is to be belived for Online Supremacy, BBC has to be more active in Social Media powerhouses — Facebook and Twitter. Google Love alone might not be enough now.
4 Responses
Daily Mail, the publication who wrote this story originally is actually getting their facts wrong. Google allows white-hat SEO promotion on their Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs), where a third party contractor will advise a website owner on how to make a website more popular for a certain query. It also allows you to buy Adwords, sponsored ads which appear near the top of the SERP and whose order is more dependent on amount paid than the relevance. However, the situation the DailyMail is describing of preferred placement in *organic* results couldn’t happen, as it is against known Google policies and would probably be against various anti-trust laws, etc.
The Daily Mail has a poor grasp of technology issues such as this and it shows in their reporting.
[...] else talking about this story said that this doesn’t bother him at all – why shouldn’t Google take money in exchange for ranking? His comparison was that CNN [...]
[...] from the same angle as the Mail on Sunday, and they’ve already attracted the attention of one blogger who’s seen through their [...]
Fake article is fake. The day they start paying for rankings is the day all nerds stop using Google.