This just in from Techmeme.com: Topix.net Buys .Com Domain For $1 Million; Worries On Google Juice After Move. This article was written by Rafat Ali for paidContent.org. One item in the story caught my attention (emphasis theirs):
The company thinks Google should have a better way to help sites/companies manage domain change and the search results that get affected as a result. To which Google says that sites shouldn’t become overly reliant on traffic from searches and should find other ways to get visitors, such as by setting up user forums.
Does Google (GOOG) really believe this? I hope not. It’s pretty short-sighted and ignorant if they do. For most web sites – maybe all but the top twenty – search engines are the primary way they’re discovered. Just watch an average web surfer for a few minutes to see for yourself. One of the first things they do is fire up a search engine. How in the world is setting up user forums supposed to replace this?
I haven’t been able to verify that actually Google said this. A related article, as noted on Techmeme.com (“How Search-Engine Rules Cause Sites to Go Missing“), goes into depth about Topix.net’s struggle with this domain change and their search results listings. It makes no mention of Google’s above statement.
Anyone know if Ali reported this correctly, or just made an assumption based on incomplete details?
