Google recently introduced Google Trends for Websites, which has sparked some controversy around the web.
The tool allows users to view stats for any site they choose, and like Doug mentioned here, this could mean trouble for companies like Alexa, Compete, and their competitors.
That’s not entirely where the controversy comes in however. Google seems to have no problem showing everyone else’s stats including Yahoo! for example, but when a query for google.com is entered, there is nothing to be seen.
The concept isn’t sitting too well with many site owners. “Google gave us all up without consent or prior permission,” says Michael Gray aka Graywolf.
Google has “laid everyone else bare, naked and exposed but kept their own stats locked up and private,” says Gray.
Google doesn’t seem to be keeping the stats on all of their properties hidden though. A doubleclick.com query turns up some results, but queries for youtube.com and blogger.com are MIA. Maybe Yahoo! or Microsoft will hook us up with that information eventually.
Lisa Barone at Bruce Clay points out that “there’s no way to opt out”. Even allowing sites to do just that would take the heat off of Google a little bit I would think.
It’s not very shocking that people are upset that their data is being broadcast to the public without their consent. Google had to have expected this.
In a comment on a post from Matt Cutts about the new feature, someone inevitably pointed out the lack of Google info. Cutts responded:
I asked about that myself. Personally, I’d love to get as much data as possible, even data about various Google properties. My guess is that they were worried that people would take the traffic estimates as some sort of forward-looking guidance and possibly misinterpret it. Bear in mind that it is a Google Labs launch, so consider it an early-stage feature. I passed that feedback on though.
I guess the whole thing is going to be misinterpreted from some angle no matter which way you spin it. I would expect that Google will eventually join in the party and offer some stats, whether this is the real reasoning or not.
