My feeling is that Google is acting like a monopoly. It's wrong that a private company is able to exert this much power over others, even if the others are being shady.

That's only the case because this company has built its model with Google as a primary player.

I understand the facts of the situation--a rap lyrics website HAS to build around Google to achieve optimal success. But if you aren't willing to give away that much control, build a less-successful version or just find another business.

This certainly points out one interesting thing... each and every content producer in the world has a vested stake in promoting other, alternative search engines. No one should put all of their eggs in one basket.

If you're a content producer, you should absolutely be looking for ways to promote other search engines (and other traffic sources) as a hedge against getting screwed by a change at $DOMINANT_PLAYER.

No, this company has built its model with search engine results as a primary player.

Google just happens to be the monopolist (and, furthermore, the cartel) in search.

I disagree.

That said, the landscape was already formed when they made that decision, so I imagine it was an informed one and doesn't change the meat of my comment.