Another SEO dude who doesn't get it

Someone on IRC pointed this article out to me. Apparently, this guy is arguing that Google has some sort of stranglehold on Wikipedia, because Wikipedia is the #1 external domain that Google users go to. He seems to believe that "any business that is overly reliant on a single supplier (who cannot be easily replaced) is in a very, very precarious position".

Like so many SEO/blogspace people, he doesn't understand Wikipedia. This is evident, simply from the fact that he calls Wikipedia a "business". Wikipedia, unlike probably every site this guy has ever contemplated, does not make money on every page load. Wikipedia, as strange as it may seem, does absolutely nothing to monetize its content. Every referral to Wikipedia from Google (or anywhere else) costs Wikipedia money, in the form of IP transit as well as server load. If Google wanted to ruin Wikipedia, it would shunt even more traffic toward Wikipedia, not cut it off. (Well, cutting it off might reduce donations, too, but the connection between page views and donations is tenuous at best.)

So, Mr. Hearne, may I suggest that the next time you blather on about the Internet, you actually research the sites you talk about? We'd all appreciate it.