On the very same day that Google refused to hand over to the US government data containing keywords and website addresses contained within its indices, a parental advice internet site, KinderStart.com filed civil lawsuit proceedings against the search engine. The basis of the lawsuit was that Google, without warning in March 2005, downgraded KinderStart’s rankings resulting in a 70% drop in traffic with a resulting 80% decline in revenue.

You can read more here:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-03-19-google-kinderstart_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

This case is definitely worth following though it is difficult to see how Google can be held responsible for the revenue of a company that seems overly dependent upon its positioning in their ‘free’ listings. It will also be interesting to discover whether the ever secretive Google has to reveal why they appear to have actually penalised the site though on my cursory glance over their site there does seem to be some evidence of some dubious coding.

Just imagine! In the future, we may all be able to sue Google when either our clients’, or our own, websites, take a dive in the rankings;-) Somehow, I don’t think so! In which case, why not join us at our next Search Engine Marketing and SEO Training Workshop in sunny Southampton on Wednesday, 5th and Thursday, 6th April? There’s barely a week to go and we still have some very limited space. You will learn how to gain and retain high relevant rankings by using ‘best practice’ SEO and SEM strategies so that you can avoid the pain that KinderStart has clearly suffered.

Visit http://www.searchengineworkshops.co.uk/registration.htm

Or call Sally on 01425 476547 to discuss further.