Forget Congress, Google Has Big Public Perception Problems

Google finds itself in the hot seat today as the Senate opens antitrust hearings into the Internet giant's conduct.  But even worse than a ritual Capitol Hill grilling is consumers' increasingly sour opinion of what not long ago was seen as the little search engine that could.

No longer so little, Google is being portrayed by such industry rivals as Nextag, Yelp and Expedia as a powerful force that squashes competitors by hurling them into searchland oblivion while elevating search results for Google's constantly expanding array of products and services.

"Anybody who's in any kind of business even remotely related to the Internet has to worry these days that Google will wake up one morning and crush them," said an executive at a successful but relatively small Internet company.  "If Google decides it likes your business, it will simply come in and take it away from you."

No shoes

Some of the critics testifying today would go even further than that. The CEO of Nextag, Jeff Katz, has complained that Google won't even let his company bid on ads that appear next to search results for running shoes.  (Google owns Zappos, which sells shoes).  

Companies in the travel, mortgage and loan sectors say Google is shoving their search results aside to make way for its own, but few will comment publicly for fear of antagonizing Google.

Although the world of search engines and Internet marketing is fairly obscure, consumers are increasingly paying heed to the criticisms, as reflected in an analysis of more than 81,000 comments posted by consumers on Facebook, Twitter and other popular Internet sites over the last year.  The most common comments are reflected in this comment cloud.  Remarks interpreted as positive are shown in green, negative in red.

Positive spin

For its part, Google has quickly mastered the art of putting a positive spin on business practices that could just as easily be described as predatory, depending on the observer's viewpoint.

"We understand with success comes scrutiny, and we're looking forward to the hearing and answering any questions senators may have about our business," a Google spokesman said about today's session.

Previously, Google has defended its decision to move into certain sectors -- comparison shopping for loans, for example -- by saying that it provides consumers with a better product than the companies it allegedly pushes aside.

But do consumers see it that way?

ConsumerAffairs.com's computerized sentiment analysis of 81,000 consumer comments indicates an overall net sentiment that is, perhaps surprisingly, largely negative, dipping to as low as -45% last November, when anti-trust rumblings began gaining in volume.  The trend took a positive turn in the last few weeks but remains highly volatile and could suffer even greater erosion from today's hearing.  

An analysis of the top 10 anti-trust concerns expressed by consumers finds that 76% used the word "abuse" to describe Google's business practices, as in "abuse market power," "abuse dominance" and "abuse dominant position."

There's little doubt Google remains spectacularly more popular than Congress but any whiff of blood in the water can bring down the wrath of politicians eager to be seen as protecting the iconic Little Guy.  Google has amassed a huge D.C. lobbying team in recent years.  Today will test the talents of those spinmasters and influence peddlers, a phrase that for some reason has fallen into oblivion just when it is needed most.   

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Sentiment analysis by NetBase