News is out that KinderStart, the company that filed suit against Google after its PageRank fell to zero and it's search engine traffic dropped by some 70%, has lost the first round of its court battle against Google. KinderStart's suit claimed that Google had "defamed" KinderStart by assigning them a zero page rank and that Google had "suppressed" their right to free speech by lowering KinderStart's rankings. While the company has until September 29th to file an amended court case, it seems likely that KinderStart will fail at that point as well.

The summarized version of this story is that KinderStart suffered a loss of PageRank AND keyword related rankings which caused a severe drop in traffic to the site. Since KinderStart relies heavily on AdSense revenue, the drop in traffic resulted in a severe drop in revenue. KinderStart then decided to take Google to court. In six-year old speak...KinderStart yelled "no fair" and went running to mommy.

For a more complex look at what really is a complex issue, check out Danny Sullivan's excellent coverage of the issue.






About the Author

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, an educational web site aimed at translating the search marketing world into something that small business owners can understand. Jennifer specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing consultant and in-house trainer, Jennifer’s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children. Her primary clients now are a little girl named Elnora and a little boy named Emmitt.

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, an educational web site aimed at translating the search marketing world into something that small business owners can understand. Jennifer specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing consultant and in-house trainer, Jennifer’s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children. Her primary clients now are a little girl named Elnora and a little boy named Emmitt.