Google Custom Search May be a Disaster in Disguise

I sometimes (ok, most of the time) see things differently than a lot of people. I look at things from various angles and here’s an angle that doesn’t seem to have been covered yet.

It’s about Google’s recent release of their custom search engine.

I see dead people lawsuits. Big ones.

When someone Googles a word or phrase the result is a list of relevant sites and web pages, most often with a list of paid ads above and down the side of the results. Google is so huge and has so many users that millions of people a day search for stuff there and if your site is relevant for a popular keyword or phrase they can send you lots of targeted traffic.

So, of course everyone wants their sites listed and ranking there, even though it’s your content that Google is making money from if someone chooses to click the ads in their results. It’s a tradeoff and we’ve come to take it for granted.

But what if I set up one of those custom search engines for, say, electronic gadgets. Then I customize the search engine to show only results from about 100 or so gadget sites. Then I include AdSense ads in the results just like Google does.

Someone searches for the latest GPS gadget at my search engine and instead of, or in addition to, clicking the natural search results, they click on an ad and I make a few cents.

Great, right? I’ve set up a great site and am making money from it.

But what if major online publishers like WeblogsInc see this as me making money off their content, for which they get nothing. After all, what it all boils down to is - It IS their content I’m making money from. Google’s custom search engine just enables me to aggregate that content and deliver it to my visitors. The end result is me making money off it.

Jason Calacanis’ stance on the issue of other people making money off his company’s content is very strong and I know other online companies take a similar approach.

What happens when thousands of these little search engines spread across the web and these companies clue in to the fact that Google is enabling us to essentially pull their content and make money off it?

Youtube has been hit and ordered to take down content that’s being distributed through their service or risk facing heavy lawsuits. I know the circumstances surrounding that service are quite different, but the ghist of it is the same - content is being distributed and monetized with no financial rewards to the original publisher or content creator.

Is it just me that sees a potential major backlash from content publishers here?