The Google Debate. Publishers ponder the pros and cons of dealing with search engines

International Data Group CEO Pat Kenealy looks with greater suspicion on Google and other search engines, such as Yahoo!, MSN and Ask Jeeves. Kenealy has floated the idea that American Business Media member companies should agree to block Google and other search engines from crawling their sites. Together, these business media companies could develop their own search algorithm, or they might cut a more favorable revenue-sharing deal with an existing search engine, he said. Kenealy compared Google to a newsstand or the Yellow Pages; search engines are another in a steady stream of new media distribution channels. “They’re part of the weather now; we have to deal with them,” he said. That doesn’t mean, however, that b-to-b media companies should deal with search engines from a position of weakness, he argued. As providers of must-have content, b-to-b media companies should have the upper hand when dealing with distributors, he said. Kenealy compared the hype surrounding Google to the hype that accompanied the rise of AOL and Yahoo!, neither of which has become as dominant as it once appeared they could be. “Google is now as dominant as AOL or Yahoo! were in their first flourishings,” he said.

Source: BtoB Media Business

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