I know everyone harps on Google because they are the big gorilla in the room that seems to be occupying all the search space but this recent Wall Street Journal article raises some interesting points on Google’s search results and how Google uses them to their advantage from an organic stand point.

“The Internet giant is displaying links to its own services—such as local-business information or its Google Health service—above the links to other, non-Google content found by its search engine.”

Yes from time to time I do notice that a Google service page will be positioned at the top of the search engines above a non-Google page in the organic section but at the end of the day they own their search tool and they can place their service pages where ever they want and no one can do anything about it.

“Google, which is developing more content or specialized-search sites in hopes of boosting ad revenue, says that prominently displaying links to them is more useful to Web searchers than just displaying links to sites that rank highly in its search system. But the moves mean Google increasingly is at odds with websites that rely on the search engine for visitors. Those companies say their links are being pushed lower on the results page to make room for the Google sites. Critics include executives at travel site TripAdvisor.com, health site WebMD.com and local-business reviews sites Yelp.com and Citysearch.com, among others.”

Google chose not to comment on these accusations but I think people sometimes forget to realize that Google is a company and they are free to do as they wish with their technology. The user experience is important but there has to be a little give on our end in order for them to sustain their business practice. With that said I do realize that they make up revenues in plenty of other areas but nobody is forcing anyone to pull up a Google browser in order to do a search for something. Google is a company and they will do what they have to in order to always stay competitive.