I have worked “optimizing” search engines for my entire post college career. “Optimizing” is in quotes because I work to help companies that pay me show up higher in Google’s search rankings, perhaps occasionally against what Google would want ranking. I am probably more familiar with search algorithms used by Google than anyone outside of Google itself. I have discovered many little methods, as well as a few bigger secrets, of how to do my job of search engine optimization better than anyone else. Because I am successful at “optimizing” Google, I have built a company with sixty full time employees who also do what I do. I have many clients that receive far more leads and revenue than they otherwise would without my help.
I thought I was powerful and influential for awhile.
Then I realized that I am really just a barnacle on the surface of a worldwide leviathan. Google has tens of thousands times higher revenue than I do. I would not exist without Google, I am a small part of it’s ecosystem.
Everyone uses Google. Google controls the information we see on a day to day basis. Billions of searches and Google controls what gets clicked on and what doesn’t. Google controls which companies succeed, and which don’t. Each time I help a client reach higher rankings in Google’s search results, that client might see their overall revenues double or triple.
Google is a company with $75 billion in annual revenue for itself. But far more importantly, it controls many trillions of dollars of commerce going to other businesses. Google controls what information you see when you search for political questions. Google controls what answers come up when you look for the best programming language, best dating site, religious questions, and on and on.
Every day Google weaves itself tighter and tighter into our lives. As I drive to work each morning, every other driver is staring intently at their phones… mostly Android powered phones. Android controls 65% of the US market, 82% of the German market, 76% of the French market, 88% of the Spanish market.
Google is becoming harder and harder to influence. When I first started in search engine optimization, anyone who had read a few blog posts could figure out how to get their website to the top of Google. Now I see thousands of flailing worthless SEO firms not getting any real changes made for their clients. The old tricks mostly don’t work anymore. My team and I have had some success, but it takes far more work than it used to. And we are the #1 ranked “los angeles seo” services company… Most companies can’t move the needle at all.
I believe that Google is now more powerful than most governments worldwide. Google controls what information you receive, and because of that, in many ways how you think.
For me, I feel like I’ve become a cyborg. Much of what I think and remember is online. 90% of my communications happen through gmail. I can’t remember what I told I a client 6 months ago, but I can find that email in seconds. Much of what used to be stored in my brain is now stored online. Photos, emails, events, research, planning, and much else only resides online now. Google has literally become a part of my personality and who I am.