Google Content Lawsuit

Most Google lawsuits are frivolous, but I'm all for this one. Almost everytime I create a new campaign in Adwords, because they do not prompt me to do so, I neglect to find and deselect the Content Network option. Consequently I check in a day or two later to see all these worthless clicks I have paid for. In my business, the content network converts so poorly, I never want to use it.

The lawsuit alleges that by not offering the option to opt-out of the Content Network, which is universally acknowledged as performing poorly relative to the Search Network, Google are being unfair.

At SEW they have a page-by-page description of the campaign creation process:

The advertiser uses the third screen to add the first set of keywords. No mention of content, but a potentially misleading line: "When people search Google for the keywords you choose here, your ad can show." A perfect place to clarify that ads can also appear on AdSense site pages.

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3629264

Google Offer Whois

If you are in the USA, a quick Google search consisting of the word whois and a domain name will provide you with its age, and a link to the full results at DomainTools.com - which is pretty good for that business! Proof that being the best gets lots of free link juice and occasionally a big boost from Google.

Couple Sue Google Over House Image

Yet again the courts need to decide whether "you can always ask us to remove it" is reasonable. As more and more sites and services potentially infringe on copyright and privacy, are companies and individuals expected to constantly crawl the web and look for their image/info/work being listed, and then look for a way of opting out?

I'm pretty sure that Google are legally allowed to take photos of streets and use them in Google Maps. The couple are asserting that Google "entered the driveway of the couple's private property, in order to take pictures to be uploaded on the website". If that is the fact, and can be proven, it might be an interesting case to keep an eye on.

Google April Fools Not Funny

Well, there's so many this year, one guesses they are dreamed up by individual employees, rather than professional comedians. Some are funny, like every "featured video on the YouTube homepage linking to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up", or Google's aim to "organize all of human ignorance". Some are mediocre, like Virgin and Google planning to colonize Mars. And then there's the unfunny scratch'n'sniff books available via Google Books.