Type “buttermilk pancakes” into Google, and among the top three or four search results you will find a link to a recipe, complete with a photo of a scrumptious stack, from a site called Knol, which is owned by Google.
Google created Knol as a place where experts could share their knowledge on a variety of topics. It hopes to create an encyclopedia built from the contributions of scores of individuals. But while Wikipedia is collectively edited and ad-free, Knol contributors sign their articles and retain editorial control over the content. They can choose to place ads, sold by Google, on their pages.
While Knol is only three weeks old, it has already spurred fears among some media companies that Google is increasingly becoming a competitor. They foresee Google becoming a powerful rival that not only owns a growing number of content properties, including YouTube, the top online video site, and Blogger, a leading blogging service, but also holds the keys to directing users around the Web.
“If in fact a Google property is taking money away from Google’s partners, that is a real problem,” said Wenda Harris Millard, the co- chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Money, of course, is very much at issue. The lower a site ranks in search results, the less traffic it receives from search engines. With a smaller audience, the site earns less money from advertising.
Although Martha Stewart’s buttermilk pancake recipe appears lower than the Knol recipe in Google’s rankings, Millard does not believe that Google unfairly favors pages from Knol. But she said that Google’s dual role as search engine and content site raises an issue of perception. “The question in people’s minds is, how unbiased can Google be as it grows and grows and grows,” Millard said.
Google said it would never compromise the objectivity of…