Google News has long been a contentious subject in the world of web publishing and search engine optimization (SEO), as some newspaper publishers feel that the aggregator diverts revenues and traffic away from their websites. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is the latest public figure to weigh in on the controversy, describing Google as a "vampire" in a recent blog post.
Cuban writes that "when someone selects Google News as their destination for news discovery it is probably at the expense of another destination or product who aspires to be a ‘discovery destination.’" He implies that original reporting can easily be lost in a crowd of similar stories.
Search Engine Land writer Danny Sullivan points out, however, that Cuban’s own investments in Mahalo, which calls itself a human-powered search engine, is partially predicated on positive search engine optimization (SEO) results with Google.
Cuban is hardly the only media mogul to take issue with Google, however. News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch has frequently been at odds with the search giant, and has often threatened to de-list his content from Google’s results.
