How Google is Killing Organic Search
The auction model for ads basically ruins internet searches in transactional categories.  If you want to win at the "italian restaurant" search game, you have to bid the highest for the ad, which means you must have the highest margin.  The best way to win is to open a restaurant with ridiculously high margins (over priced wine and cheap ingredients).<p>Want the "cheapest car insurance"?  Google is zero help.  It sends you to Geico or a bunch of lead-gen sites, and no matter what, you will end up at an insurance company that makes the biggest margins.<p>If you really want the cheapest car insurance, you need to find a company that doesn't advertise, and is non-profit, that way your premium is spent buying insurance, not TV ads and Berkshire Hathaway's stock appreciation.<p>Whenever I see a SERP full of ads, I search for something different.  When there is nothing but ads, Google is sending you to high-margin crap.