Even after the Google search API data leak, even after it was confirmed by Google, still 10% of SEOs will continue to trust Google statements going forward. The wild thing is, this level of trust has not changed in the past decade when I ran a similar poll in 2014.
The new poll I posted on X I asked, "After reading Google's response to the data leak - will you trust Google going forward?" And of the 1,700+ responses, 10%, which is 170 of you, said you would trust Google going forward.
Here is that poll:
After reading Google's response to the data leak - will you trust Google going forward? Details at https://t.co/lfBKRoxB7m
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) May 29, 2024
The poll I did in 2014 asked does Google lie to webmasters? We received 735 responses back then and only 10% said Google does not lie. 33% saying Google sometimes lies to us and 57% saying Google does lie to us.
So it seems things didn't get worse in the past decade. Meaning, we are not seeing that more SEOs think Google lies today than they did a decade ago.
Disclaimer: I know polls are not fully representative of the whole industry and I also know how polls are worded and the options provided can skew the results.
Forum discussion at X.