Searchengineland:
I am watching C-SPAN right now, listening to Google CEO Sundar Pichai respond to questions to various U.S. Representatives. I sincerely believe Pichai is doing a very good job answering the questions posed to him.
What is astonishing me as an SEO professional for almost 25 years (I was doing this work before Google came into the mainstream) are the representatives’ comments. In particular, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Steve Chabot (R-OH), in my opinion, have a considerable LACK of quality research about Google or any web search engine.Nevertheless, I am grateful to C-SPAN for showing this hearing. It is showing me that members of our Congress have a considerable lack of knowledge about how search engines work and how website owners are also responsible for how their listings appear in search engines, not only Google.
The sense of entitlement is misplaced. If conservative news stations are not abiding by Google’s guidelines and are not working with a qualified SEO firm or consultant to optimize news listings, or a skilled link developer, then I don’t want to hear your opinion until you take responsibility for your own web documents. If you followed the guidelines, you might see your listings rank better in search engines.
It does feel that people in power often throw out accusations and outrage about topics they know very little or even nothing about. It seems they think their opinions are actually facts and it’s harmful when misinformation is being spread as truth. Congress should have done more research on how search engines and search engine optimization actually work prior to having a hearing on the exact subject.