I see why you would read it that way. Perhaps I wasn’t clear.

I didn’t mean to suggest that they would be content with their margins. I don’t think any business should be content with its margins. What I meant to suggest is that those margins are increasing on their own, thanks to market forces, and Google needn’t do anything illegal or immoral to stimulate that trend.

Online ad spending is projected to go up about 24% this year. That means Pay-Per-Click costs are bound to rise even more due to supply and demand.

It’s fashionable to talk about Google as though they’re Big Brother, but at the end of the day, people need to decide for themselves whether this company honors its own privacy policy.

When they were an emerging company, it was easier for them to get by with essentially saying, “Trust us. We’re Google.” But now they’re in the same predicament that Microsoft is in. People won’t trust them automatically, even when they have no reason to distrust them.

So be it. I’d just like to see some evidence of foul play from the people who make a habit of accusing Google of whatever their supposed scheme du jour may be.

This is a tool that’s helped countless people to understand and grow their businesses more effectively. They’ve recognized the brand value in building and maintaining many similar free services over the past several years. The same can’t be said as easily for Microsoft, which surely doesn’t make Ian’s job any easier (i.e., “Trust me, I work for Microsoft”). Well, now it seems the market trusts one of these brands slightly more than the other — but just.

A lot of people reading this may think I’m being naive, but I’ve yet to see any evidence of Google Analytics being anything other than a fine example of company with ample resources recognizing The ROI of Free.

I wonder… would people trust Google Analytics more if they had to pay for it?

(Thank you for challenging me to clarify!)

Where does this trust in a “We are rich enough” insight stem from? Hasn’t history proved times and times that stock owners are never satisfied, no matter how high the margins may be?

Sure. But would they? Wouldn’t the SEO community out Google immediately if there were any real evidence of something like that?

All I’m saying is that, if that were to happen, someone would figure it out soon, and it would be the end of people trusting Google. Especially now that they have DoubleClick and everyone’s watching — especially Microsoft (not that it’s much comfort to the market, as Ian’s already noted).

Google has an understandable interest in creating a great analytics tool, simply because it integrates so well with AdWords. Until proven otherwise, they’re just leveraging a free tool to make money off you later through text ads.

Besides, Google doesn’t need to rig its own system. Pay-Per-Click costs are rising plenty on their own, don’t you think?

I agree with Ian, too. (Not sure if that was clear from the way I framed the post.)

Thanks for sharing the Michael Gray link. Yeah, I’d say that pretty much proves Ian’s point