I’ve said 2 things repeatedly, says Lindon NA:
- Google is streamlining/reducing costs in regards to crawling/indexing/processing
- Google wants to be the “source” of information (not just organise it).
It may be they are changing gears, now.
They’ve already harvested the vast majority of information and data from the internet.
They’ve already seen that most of it is copies or variants.
Of all the pages published daily, only a tiny % contain anything “new”.
A large % of the net is simply not needed!
Google already has sufficient information and examples regarding numerous topics.
What they really need is:
a) New stuff
b) To vet/validate what they have
They can spin the info they already have, and have a knowledge bank for validation.
Google can kill of the rest!
We’ve already seen them hit opinion content formats (reviews, purchase guides etc.).
They could follow that process through other formats and intents.
Even e-com wouldn’t be safe (esp. if Google manages to train users to “Shop with Google”.
And it’s not even like people will need to “go to Google”.
It’s already in most households!
Default search engine, default browser, mobiles and tablets, laptops/notebooks, assistant devices etc.
People will just “ask” – and it will be Google that answers.
It won’t be “from the web”.
It won’t be “from your site”.
It will be “here’s the answer”, or “here’s the instructions”, or “here’s some ideas”, or “morning – you’re low on milk, I’ll order some for you”.
(the “Jarvis”)
I used to joke in the Google Forums about “planet Google”, which was preferable to planet MS or planet Apple.
But – after we’ve seen how Google behaves, the abuse of power, influence and position … is that what we really want?
Do you want Google controlling knowledge?
They’re looking to make a huge % of the internet, millions of sites, basically redundant.
And the tiny % that is left – will be heavily milked!
They will be used, abused, leveraged and paid off (a pittance once Google is in position).
So … Google is going to get “smaller”
I expect to see more teams merged and reduced, layoffs etc., as Google can start carving back on it’s resource expenditures.
As it shifts from “referral” to “source”, using our content (for training, building data banks, testing language for best effect etc.).
I think they are under pressure.
They are rushed.
But I do firmly believe – this was the game plan.
They just had to move sooner due to OpenAI getting far more traction, earlier than planned.
They’ll shrink, as more and more staff and sites become redundant.