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I am sure virtually all of you saw the news that Google's stock price (GOOG) dropped tremendously yesterday after the earnings release was leaked and it showed a 20% drop in profits.
What is typical webmaster reaction to Google earnings calls? The reaction of those webmasters who do not own stock, that is. The reaction of those webmasters who were hit by a recent Google update, like Penguin or Panda? Most are rejoicing.
Here is one comment from a WebmasterWorld user:
I'm loving this!
Why did Google not perform well last quarter? Webmasters will say because Google's search results are less relevant, driving less searches and less clicks on ads. Well, the earnings release says that paid clicks were up 33%.
In any event, why do you think Google's earnings dropped from a webmaster perspective. Go at it in the comments but please use G-rated words.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums & Google Webmaster Help.
Comments:
W at Off-Road Finance
10/19/2012 12:50 pm
I'll believe there's a drop in searches when I start seeing Bing and/or Yahoo searches. Thus far, almost none. When revenue is up and profits are down, it's time to look at costs. Yeah, no duh.
Mike Kalil
10/19/2012 01:13 pm
It's obviously not Adwords that's causing the drop. Maybe it's the non-search projects they always launch that never seem to succeed.
Kevin Gerding
10/19/2012 02:03 pm
This news means it's about time for another algorithm to combat "webspam" and push more organic listings beneath the fold. At least that will be Google's official public response as was the case with the other recent algorithm changes that placed more paid ads on the first page of many search queries. Coincidence? I think not.
Omri Shabat
10/19/2012 02:03 pm
A lot of the surprising loss was driven by weak results of Motorola, totally unrelated to search.
ethalon
10/19/2012 02:20 pm
Why do people keep saying the Motorola losses were unexpected? I see a lot buzz on search engine/business/tech stock blogs about how Google thought they could 'fix' the rapidly dying Motorola, and they all seem to miss or gloss over the most important point: Google bought Motorola EXPECTING a loss. Google is a savvy player in the tech world and they didn't buy them because they really like the Motorola business model or product offerings. They bought Motorola because in the massive mobile market, patents are everything. Yesterday was, yet another, knee-jerk stock convulsion and nothing more. What I find most interesting is that, while the price advertisers are paying for ad clicks is decreasing, the total number of ads being served up and being clicked on has increased pretty dramatically. I might get shouted down for this but it seems like, at the very least, the advertising aspect of their SERPs are getting broader while the prices are going down. Is the decrease in price related to Google aggresivley marketting for small brick and mortar businesses to get into adwords; building their revenue base before increasing prices? Nobody on the outside could possibly know. But working in house for a large B2B company, I know that our AdWords rep has made it his mission to get us 'ready for the Christmas shopping season', even though we sell mostly to universities and research entities and christmas is a downturn in sales for us. Also, I live right near New York City and WNYC (the local public radio station) was airing short spots advertising free in-person seminars where they will help mom & pops get their ecommerce sites up and running. Who wants to bet that part of that is getting an AdWords account set up...and probably giving them a few $50 or $100 AdWords credits? Ah progress, you are a hard beast to tame.
Milania
10/19/2012 02:49 pm
For one, Google has cannibalized itself. Those current Bing ads may be having an impact. Combine that with the horrible rapport Google has created with webmasters and it's not a good cocktail. Sooner or later, word of mouth travels full circle. Also, kids went back to school and the web traffic decreased significantly due to such. As to the relevant search, whether it impacted earnings or not, it's really poor. I wish that Google would quit toying with wasteful projects (playing Johnny Cab) and get back to useful search based on content, not linking or social related.
Omri Shabat
10/19/2012 02:49 pm
You are right, everyone expected a loss for Motorola but the loss was apparently deeper than the prior expectations. In fact, I think it was $125 million operating loss more than expected (-$151 million against expectations of about -$25 million).
ethalon
10/19/2012 03:21 pm
Fair point.
ethalon
10/19/2012 03:55 pm
Ah, and the reaction I was expecting: "Click prices heading down are not good for a company whose near-sole revenue source is paid clicks. I expect more algo "improvements" in the near future as the only way to make up for lower CPC is to ramp up paid clicks." This will be the new, most likely temporary, cry from those who get just the base level information from snippets and blurbs and attempt to make it fit into their existing world view. Last month it was all about Google ruining the search results so users would be forced to click on paid ads, and that the 'proof' would be in the increased revenue from paid clicks. Who wants to bet that on the next disruptive algo change, this percieved loss will be cited over and over by the low-information types in the field as proof that Google is being disruptive on purpose. There are arguments to be made on both sides of this little SEO war, but the loudest screams always seem to come from the same static Googlegeist: They make money, and it's proof of evil success. They loose money and it's proof of future evil success.
ethalon
10/19/2012 03:56 pm
Sorry, the quote was from the WebmasterWorld thread cited by Barry in the post.
Ralph Tegtmeier
10/19/2012 04:05 pm
Will optimize for Google pennystocks now, heh....
Clark Mackey
10/19/2012 04:11 pm
RE: Motorola, if you have one of their phones you already know how deep the problems go. ;)
Greg Hartnett
10/19/2012 04:20 pm
Paid clicks were up, but revenue per click was down. I haven't read the transcripts yet, but I believe most of the shortfall was due to (a) increased costs, and (b) further transition of traffic to the mobile platform which GOOG is not monetizing as well as the desktop.
jd
10/19/2012 04:32 pm
Fock them - Small win for Karma
Anti-SEO
10/19/2012 04:38 pm
I don't see how this info is related to the search engine by itself. Does search market share remain on the same level ? Yes. Everything else is for the guys from Wall Street.
Anon Reg
10/19/2012 04:47 pm
is it just me or there is an audio ad on all seroundtable's pages? everytime I load any page on seroundtable an annoying audio ad starts speaking something in what looks like german.. and I see no button no make it stop
Barry Schwartz
10/19/2012 04:50 pm
Really? What ad do you see on the page that may cause this?
Malik
10/19/2012 05:49 pm
I heard it was because of the expansion of cell phones. People are clicking less on ads while they're on the go.
Adam
10/19/2012 06:18 pm
Suck it Google.
Google is rigged
10/19/2012 08:59 pm
"Why did Google not perform well last quarter? Webmasters will say because Google's search results are less relevant, driving less searches and less clicks on ads. Well, the earnings release says that paid clicks were up 33%" Moronic Barry strikes again!!! Clicks are up because search is worst than ads--less relevant so users clicks on ads instead. Now companies, hit by Penguin, Panda and everything else are no longer bidding to increase the price on all these clicks (growing by 30% each quarter). Supply demand and ROI problems. In short Google is f-cked, they rigged search, filled it with fraudulent ads and there's very little else they can do now. Dear Webmasters: All your lost traffic is going to Google Adwords, shifted by the Google crooks little by little since Mayday.
sestuff
10/19/2012 11:43 pm
Who's on the end of jarring and jolting now? Unfortunately, webmasters will pay for this. Prepare for even more updates. I wonder if those last updates were a way to retaliate against this. After all, they only took place just a couple of weeks ago. Of course, if the updates have too much of a negative effect, site owners may decide to stop advertising. Personally, I wouldn't advertise with a company that only sees my site as being ad worthy.
Alan
10/20/2012 12:21 am
As has already been said Google has squeezed all those small sites out. However those small sites used the income from organic search to buy adwords ads. Now those little sites have no organic income so they got no money spend on adwords to drive price up! However this is only one quarter it may just be an aberration! But I hope its not!
Andrius
10/20/2012 02:13 am
That graph is very similar to what I see in my income graph after all those crazy updates :)
MonopolizedSearch
10/20/2012 12:39 pm
Google decimated the serps with panda, penguin, exact match domain, and above the fold algorithm updates when no other company outside of Google has so many ads above the fold. What is displayed in the serps, for many queries, is less than desirable. What impact does this have on webmasters and SEOs outside of the obvious monetary losses? A LOSS OF CONFIDENCE. Many webmasters and SEOs believe Google is chasing the almighty dollar at all costs. How can such an organization be trusted when they call their present day serps a success?
MonopolizedSearch
10/20/2012 12:42 pm
It sounds like you need to install an antivirus program and run a system scan on your computer. This site and its webpages are clean.
Ismael Verón
10/20/2012 03:12 pm
I´d fire right away from Google the person that thought that by penalizing web sites for havine too much ads, and not showing them on first positions, internet users would clik on AdWords ads instead.. there you have google.
Joshua
10/20/2012 09:29 pm
it very easy, it not genuine clicks. Google cheat peoples to click on adwords ads. Advertisers find out what conversions from adwords going down dramatically. This is result of 'google above the fold' ads. I am sure more such news coming soon.
Joshua
10/20/2012 09:34 pm
just because ads is everywhere at google and peoples get cheated when click on ads (them think it organic serp!)
Joshua
10/20/2012 09:37 pm
yes, matt cutts. it jarring and jolting news for you, isn't it?
Affordable SEO Company
10/20/2012 10:51 pm
Perhaps Google is losing its Search Engine marketshare to Yahoo/Bing?
Fitness Guy
10/20/2012 10:57 pm
Well they would have made a bit more money if they would have continued to allow me to show adsense on my main site. Instead the money goes to other advertisers that like the traffic I can give them
I h8 losers
10/21/2012 06:28 am
You stupid phack! Google didn't lose any money and the click surely increased--by 33%!!!!! 33% more clicks than last year and that was after Panda increased them by 40%. Google cannot control PPC as much, but clicks surely increased. .
Dev In Vancouver
10/22/2012 05:26 am
What happened to Google in the markets seems like a direct reflection of what happened to a large number of quality sites in the SERPs - the data is ironically similar. They have toyed with the global webmaster/developer/designer community at the public's expense, unbenownst to most of the public. However, what we're witnessing almost feels akin to the pre-'SE upheaval' when Google first arrived on the scene a little over a decade ago. I recall distinctly helping clients reset homepages as they were fed up w/MSN and/or Yahoo and/or Altavista 'back then'. Ironically, began again looking for solutions at clients' requests earlier this year - by adding options to clients browser plugins for other SEs, and, oddly enough, resetting home pages. You're quite right, imho, re: LOSS OF CONFIDENCE. Confidence has eroded considerably over the last months. Clients have noticed. Friends and family have noticed the gradual degradation of qualilty in SERPs, complaining about having to start 2, 3 sometimes 5 pages deep to get decent, relevant results. However, there are a couple of up-and-comers waiting to pounce and their SERPs are seemingly getting better every day - DuckDuckGo, Blekko, et al. So, we tell people about these and other options. There are other search options as well - social for one. Everything has a lifespan.
Thien
10/22/2012 10:55 am
Barry knows exactly what he writes but he defend Google alwajs, like Google employee.
Webstats Art
10/22/2012 12:08 pm
Some people are really afraid and there might be a massive selling spree this week to cause Google stock to plummet even further. The real problem Google has right now is mobile phones. My wife stopped using google search recently to book hotels because she has a great app on her iphone. She searches for apps and has completely forgotten google in the equation.
Anon Reg
10/22/2012 05:14 pm
Hi Barry I checked with Chrome and there's something suspect loading an swf from http:// ad. 71i. de (i inserted some spaces after the dots). I can see no ad, it's just the sound. other swf loading is from domain videoplaza.tv
Search
10/24/2012 06:49 am
Interesting to see if Google starts getting rid of adword advertisers again, banning accounts like in the past. How well will they do with only the big name advertisers on adwords, similar to the organic search results now.