A few years ago I would have said yes, lately it seems that there are so many road blocks in the way. Everyone wants to generate their own leads and that is a plus, but are you going to ignore your business in the process?
Almost all of the information that you see out there today is based on yesterdays news. Even the latest tools to research the top pages are looking back into the past.
The internet while still a great resource, is becoming a questionable source of information. Often the most relevant information is suppressed because it is to relevant.
I believe this is intentional, as the search engines are now profit driven machines. The search engines provided much more relevant information when they where not publicly traded.
I found it surprising to hear that Ask.com was no longer going to try to compete with Google. Many of the search engines that where around 7 or 8 years ago are no longer with us.
So what does this mean for the future of the internet when it is controlled by the big 3, well maybe it will be the big two if Microsoft gets it’s way. It has always amazed me that if Microsoft cannot compete they just go out and buy it.
What a way to run a business. I guess that most companies still have not learned when you stop giving the people what they want, then you become irrelevant. They will go someplace else, and this holds true for our businesses.