[vaksel]

more warning for anyone in a lucrative space on the web...Google will eventually come for you.

It happened to mortgage rates companies, it happened to flights, and eventually given enough it'll happen to any service that acts as a broker/affiliate for other companies.

[guelo]

Warning to anyone in any lucrative market, you will have competition.

[vaksel]

no this is different...with your competition you are more or less on a level playing field. With Google, they get to always place their stuff before you.

which means on the back end much lower traffic for the companies, which in turn drives down the rates you can charge for the leads.

[seabee]

Search engine traffic isn't the only source of publicity. Google Flight Search isn't going to be first in a search for 'hipmunk', nor anywhere on the first page.

[jlees]

Google will eventually come for you.

Or buy you. The trick is to be so good at what you do that it's easier for Google to fork out cash than engineering resources.

[ericd]

Not everyone wants to be bought, though, and those that don't shouldn't be at a disadvantage due to Google's position as the gatekeeper of web traffic instantly benefitting their own stuff over the incumbents.

This is what antitrust laws are for.

[Vivtek]

Anyone in a large scale lucrative space, anyway. And one that can be boiled down to a single search. There's plenty of lucre remaining in travel planning and mortgages.

[naeem]

A competition is a competition. While Google definitely has the leverage of it's name, it also has pressure to produce which freelance entrepreneurs do not. Ultimately I think good execution is all that matters... the Google brand will attract somebody to the product, but it won't make them use it.