Google Autolink

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Google autolink is a new feature available in the Google Toolbar. This new feature can automatically generate any portion of text on your webpages to an outbound link to one of it's global partners like amazon.com.

Although this feature is set to "off" as a default when setting up the toolbar after a user downloads, it can easily be set to on and start working on any pages that it notices something relitive to it's settings.

So far I have heard that it will most likely target vin#'s maps and amazon products. This is a substantial development and I'll be studing it in more detail in the coming months.

This feature will pretty much "steal" traffic off of a website owners pages and redirect users elsewhere.

There are already scripts of code available which you can insert into your pages to disable this feature from taking over your site.

From what I have heard in the buzz around the web, is that Google has stated that unless webmasters choose to use their own code to disable the feature, they do not plan on offering any opt-out abilities.

What is your take on this new autolink feature, and what would you consider doing to stop it?

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The following is a snipet from a webpronews (http://www.webpronews.com) email I recieved....

Good News, I might add..

~~ Snip ~~
Walt Mossberg weighs in on Google Autolink in today's Wall Street Journal. Basically his stance is consistent with what he wrote in 2001 on Smart Tags.



The big news, however, is that Google sounds like it might be listening, yet they are leaving their options open.

The Google feature is more benign than Microsoft's for several reasons. Still, the way it is being implemented is a bad idea. If it takes hold, it would start the Web down a slippery slope where no owner of a Web site could ever be sure that readers had a chance to view its pages in the way they were composed.

If the principle behind AutoLink were to take hold, there would be nothing to stop Microsoft from adding a feature to Internet Explorer that would replace the ads on a Google search-results page with ads sold by Microsoft's MSN service.

I've had long conversations about this with senior Google officials, and they say they are actively considering changing the way the AutoLink feature works so it might not actually alter the Web pages themselves. They note that the feature is a work in progress. But the Google officials also insist their first principle is user convenience.~~ Snip ~~

I take a back seat to nobody in favoring user convenience, but, as with most things in life, every principle must be balanced against others. In this case, that balancing principle is the right of Web publishers to control the content and appearance of their own sites. Users wouldn't benefit if the Web became a sea of uncertainty, where anybody could alter every Web page.

~~ Snip ~~