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What’s Behind Google’s Mistreatment of Automobile Dealers?

As automobile dealers collectively furnish much of Google’s revenue via costly pay-per-click campaigns and third-party lead purchases (that originate from the search giant), how then does Google see it’s way clear to “bite the hand that feeds” by returning the favor to the auto retail industry so terribly in its search results? In other words, is Google taking advantage of a business sector that it considers asleep at the virtual wheel; and if so, why are dealers still cutting those checks?

Try a Google search for just about any automobile dealer you can think of , and I’ll bet that on the first page of results you’ll find (sometimes even above the dealer’s own website listing) at least one website featuring content disparaging the company.

Actually, you’re more likely to find three or four… or five.

Next, try the same search on MSN or Yahoo and you’ll probably have to browse three, four or five pages deep before coming across the first occurrence of a consumer gripe site.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with free speech of course, but consumer advocacy sites are far from perfect barometers of a company’s record. As a matter of fact, gripe sites are often the subject of abuse from both competitors and disgruntled customers alike via their symbiotic attempts to destroy a company’s online reputation through the anonymous posting of multiple false grievances.

Furthermore, gripe sites represent ideal breeding grounds for the most frivolous, vacuous, lowdown, tangential, misdirected, incomprehensible, pie-in-the-sky, and/or downright dirty allegations that can be imagined.

As such, why does Google continue to insist on placing such a high value upon (what is clearly) content of very questionable quality for search queries of automobile dealer’s keywords?

Could it be that since most complaint sites derive revenue from advertising, and as most are working with Google in this regard, and that as the automobile retail industry comprises a large portion of the search action on Google each and every day; that Google is intentionally placing three or four Google advertising consumer sites on the first page of auto dealer search results to ensure significant profit-generating traffic for itself?

Well, let’s see:

If Google were doing that then we might find the same sites on the first page of results for all manner of car dealers all over the country.

Check. Not naming names here, but it’s easy to find the sites Google is giving preferential treatment to.

Okay, maybe we’d also see complaint sites on the first page of a dealer keyword search whether the site had only a couple of reviews for a dealer, or dozens.

Check. This is strange because Google supposedly places a high value on site relevancy (the more content, the more relevant a website page is touted to be) so, for gripe sites to rank equally high regardless of whether they feature light or heavy content would appear to betray Google’s own page-rank criteria. For instance, there are cases where a dealer will be the subject of  three or four reviews on a particular site, and on the same site another dealer will have forty reviews, yet the complaint site ranks in the top five results for both dealer’s keyword searches.

Alright, how about financial motivation - are there Google advertisements on these high-ranking sites?

Check. Although to be fair, there may be a few unflattering listings on the first page that don’t feature any Google advertising within - lemon law “parasite” sites and their associated blogs are particularly relevant here; sites operated by lawyers trolling for new cases against you (especially those dealerships and groups that advertise heavily on television, therefore providing the most Internet traffic) that piggyback onto your Google search results by peppering their pages with your dealership’s keywords; pages dedicated to dredging up old lawsuits and/or referencing other allegations of impropriety (no matter how old or absurd) appearing on complaint sites.

How about this test: Are there any dealers out there that only have a single complaint against them, yet that single complaint shows up on the first page of results?

Check. Try a search for “Hank Aaron Honda.” Over 90,000 matches (as of June 2008) for those keywords, yet Google places a lone complaint from 2005 in the number one spot on page one. That’s right, that single complaint actually shows up above Hank Aaron’s dealership website! Poor Henry.

Update 1/09/10: Hank's Honda site is no longer visible on the first page of Google, perhaps he's sold the franchise (or maybe he's renamed it; either way, who could fault him). In any event, the complaint's still #1. Hard to believe that of all the occurrences of the words "hank, aaron and honda" on the Internet, 75,000 matches as of today, this old page is still the most relevant. Come on Google, this is ridiculous. Searching Bing for the very same keywords reveals the store was sold (the first listing on the first page of results - now that's relevancy) with no complaints visible.

Hank Aaron Honda Google Search Results

In closing, it appears that MSN (now Bing) and Yahoo responsibly choose to return complaint (or otherwise negative) results in dealership keyword searches only when prompted to do so; as in searches for dealer keywords that also include a term such as “reviews” or “complaints” or “lawsuits” etc. In other words, if you’re expressly looking for bad news, they’ll deliver it. Google, on the other hand, elects to offer up a blend of relevancy as well as infamy to your prospective customers right out of the gate, simply upon their typing in your company’s name; because, for lack of any other logical reason, it’s more profitable for Google that way.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that Google hide derogatory content pertaining to car dealerships from their search patrons, rather only that they provide such self-interested, low-value results when specifically asked to do so; for otherwise Google is choosing profitability over relevancy at the direct expense of automobile dealers across the country; a powerful constituency that might one-day choose to collectively stop writing checks for pay-per-click advertising and third-party leads.

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