Google .. Great Wall of Seperation Crumbling?

http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2007/10/16/googles-paid-search-vs-organic-results-a-rickety-wall-of-separation

The fact that Google has recently hired thousands of new staff members (all trying to look like they're doing their jobs and show growth in their respective divisions) and this dynamic:

Quote: ""...Google will offer technical assistance in achieving better organic search engine placement to those who spend more for paid search results.  I know for certain that these rumors are true in at least two instances.  In fact, I actually have the minutes from one of these technical assistance meetings after the company met with Google engineers.""   

[and] 

""since Google is willing to give advice about organic search engine placement to companies that spend a great deal of money on Google advertising, is the phrase "...While Google never sells better ranking in our search results…" truly accurate?  I suppose this is open for interpretation.  It may be technically true, but offering advice regarding organic search engine placement straight from the horse's mouth in exchange for millions of dollars in money for paid search results isn't far from selling rankings""

..Will ultimately lead to a deterioration in search product.  Many loyal Google users can already feel a slight change in the core product..  It takes several searches and refinement to get the result you're looking for if you're not searching a specific site or news-story. Research takes longer when Wikipedia isn't a result option.

Again from the story: "Please don't get me wrong – I still believe that Google is the best search engine out there.." .. WRONG.  Google is the only search engine out there.  Nobody is even trying in search anymore..  I can't even think of a number 2 who is "promotiong" search ..  maybe Ask.com with their mainstream ads.  But the more the great wall of seperation crumbles ..  the more opportunities for a strong and viable number 2 emerge.

Comments

[Shane]

Nobody's even trying? Yahoo, MSN and Ask are all trying very hard and all are constantly making concerted efforts to surpass Google in relevancy. Whether they have or not is obviously debatable.

And as for Google assisting large customers, them teaching companies about the importance of title tags and good linking is far from selling rankings -- and that's what these meetings are about.

Now, will they become increasingly more "evil" as they have to continue this growth rate? I have no doubt that the temptation will be there, and it wouldn't surprise me if they did. However, these examples are far from evidence of that.