My One-Woman, Ban Google Crusade.
Well, it seems Google did yet another update over-night. My page-rank, which was a 5 for two years, has now dropped down to a 3. Why? Because I am paid to write posts or provide advertising to companies. Google, who started out in a garage and up against the big dog at the time, Yahoo, seems to forget their humble beginnings and want to punish those of us trying to make our mark and make a little money at the same time. So what am I doing about it? I no longer use Google to search the web- I use Yahoo, or Ask.com. I have un-installed the Google Toolbar, I no longer use Google Reader, Google Earth and Google Desktop are history. To be honest the only reason I started using Google as a search engine was due to the fact it loaded faster as a home page in my browser. Not because I found it superior. Will this make Google fall to the ground? No. But every little bit helps. If you want to join my crusade, listed below are a few tips:
Do as I did-stop using anything Google. Un-install Google Earth, Google Desktop, don’t use Google Reader, DO NOT for any reason use Google as your search engine. Do not use Adsense- we all know very few make money from it anyway, except for those who kiss Google’s ass and, well, Google. If you visit a blog or website using Adsense and you see a product you’re interested in- DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. Not only is the owner of the site making money, but Google as well. Back away, go to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN, and do a search. Most of the “deals” on Adsense aren’t really deals and I can guarantee if it’s something you buy, you can find it cheaper someplace else.
If you want, leave a comment about how you would get back at Google if you could- or, if you plan on doing any of the above.
Frankly, I always thought Google Desktop was a bust. In theory it was great but it slagged up any pc I ever put it on no matter what the speed of the processor and how much ram I had. It infuriated me. Google earth? Eh…I sometimes use Google maps but mapquest comes up quicker as well. I’m over on Great News RSS now but it still has it quirks like from one pc to another I’ll be rereading the stuff I already read from another pc because it doesn’t know its you again but that’s okay.
Yeah I tried Google Desktop for about a week on my old PC and it slowed everything down to a crawl. I used Google Earth at times for my old job, but that’s only because the programmer had written a file that could be placed in Google Earth and well it was easier than using MapQuest. Yahoo is now set as the home page in Firefox.
I am with you. I’m sick of Google bullying people around! They don’t rule the web! I only have to find a good replacement for the Google reader. Any recommendations?
Right on! I called for the boycott about two weeks ago! Glad to see you’re joining my one-woman fight!
You know and here’s another thing, when you take down your google adsense blocks, they keep your money too because you haven’t hit that 100.00 to pay out. I had like 40 something I think and that was after like a year? I took it down but still had the page impressions I think? I don’t even know, they canned my entire account. Whatever. I usually use a blank page for my browsers and then open up what I want except on Opera. Opera lets me put 9 mini windows and I can pick what I want to view and click it cuz you save the websites you like. I LOVE that feature. Loads up super fast too.
Sandra: I have been using Great News RSS that Beth here recommended because that was slower than molasses too. So far no complaints and its super fast.
Beth,
I’m sorry I don’t agree with you. I agree that Google was unfair to us, but whats the use of denying ourselves the ease and convenience Google provides us. We need to be sensible and ask Google to comment, not go against them…
I dunno, thats my opinion. I did a blog post on this, and I quoted you, I hope its ok….
Cheers,
Mohan
aka Neo Garfield
Well done you – I got rid of my google stuff at the weekend agter reading this.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2688404.ece
Sandra: So far Great News has worked wonders compared to all the other readers I have used. There is also one called Snarfer- I tried it about a year ago, it’s fast but not as fast as Great News.
Blue: This is one reason I never stuck with Adsense. Unless your site receives A LOT of traffic, you won’t make decent money. Sure you’ll make money here and there but like you said, for the majority of us it takes 6 months to a year, (I know one person who went 2 years before cashing out), to even see the check.
Mohan: We can agree to disagree. Google isn’t the only company out there offering services of convenience. How much more difficult is it to use Yahoo, or Ask.com to search for something? Feed readers? Tons out there and better than Google Reader. Google Earth? Unless you’re a person who does a lot with maps/mapping- what good is it other than being nice to look at graphically? As for Gmail- I’ll be signing up at Yahoo for another email address.
MsDemmie: Good for you!
Whilst I’m not a mindless Google hater I posted along similar lines a couple of weeks back about reducing my own reliance on Google services.
I’m down to just Feedburner now. My decision stemmed from the thought that unless we use some of the alternatives on offer, there will perhaps not be any alternatives eventually.
‘Googleless’ working has been OK, and if I need their search I use Scroogle instead. Alternative RSS readers I would recommend Bloglines Beta or if you fancy something feature loaded and pretty cool, the new FeedGhost software.
Maurice: Exactly. I don’t “hate” the services Google offers, but after the last several weeks their dominance is getting old. Reminds me a tad of Microsoft.
They are the new Microsoft. And they have put themselves in this position.
Should be fun to watch how things change, if there really is a grass roots revolt.
The most successful revolts in history have been started by the little people- and aren’t we the little people? I’m not missing Google in the least.
Though I don’t know that an entire boycott of Google products will make a difference, I do strongly recommend getting a different analytics program and STOP using Google Analytics.
Giving Google that kind of information about our monetization strategy and traffic patterns is just the information they need to make changes such as what we saw today.
Cut them off at the source from spying on us – it used to be a great service – now I see it as a Trojan Horse. I’m hunting for a new solution and will even pay for it if I have to.
And just in case anyone thinks I’m a pissed off blogger – I am, but I was at a PR5 yesterday and am still at a PR5 today.
Google has done more than hurt the blogs who they devalued. They hurt their credibility and trust as well. Forever.
Wendy: I never thought of Analytics because I stopped using it after 2 days about a year ago. It slowed my site down tremendously, not to mention the data never seemed accurate. I’ve been using Performancing.com’s Pmetrics, which provides the same information and then some without slowing down my site. The only issue I have-their database goes down every day at least twice- not sure if it’s due to updates or because of the load of users. Go to pmetrics.performancing.com to check it out.
Please give me a better alternative than Adsense: Yahoo doesn’t bother to accept my blog and Bidvertiser only pays half the amount of Adsense
I appreciate your step and I want to do the same. But my concern is that most traffic is generated from Google. Unless the common user stops using Google, our little step will make no mark. Google is getting more user-friendly, hence, every John Doe will stick to it!!!! But yes.
“Google, thou shall be damned to burn in Hell!!!”
I stopped using Google, too. Didn’t like their spying and snooping. Google is creepy . . . supersecret. And think about this . . .
Google makes its money by gathering free information from the web — information that you and I and others create. Google then encodess that information and puts it into its various databases to be searched by you. Google then sellls ads based around your searches. So Google is making money from advertisers based on your content ,a guess what — the advertisers are just like you and me — they create content, too, both as individuals and as businesses. Making money by stealing our words, images, music, video, etc. and selling ads back to us. Yuck.
BTW, the Anti-Span word you have above is officially called a CAPTCHA — see the Carnegie-Mellon University website for more information on this feature. It was created at CMU.
Here’s one for you. A free “No Google” badge.
Get it here:
http://blog.peculiarplace.com/2007/12/10/annoyed-with-google-want-to-show-it/
I can tell you one thing that was not a contibuting factor to your rank drop: You have good unique content. On the reason: Did you stop acquiring quality backlinks? This would be the most common reason for a rank drop.
LOL, yeah, google is getting bigger and uglier every day
I do think though that things will take care of themselves, and eventually this empire will vanish, as all empires do…
Misha