SAN FRANCISCO – Google is facing growing criticism from website owners, publishers, and small businesses who say their sites are being unfairly dropped or hidden from search results with little to no explanation.
These complaints have grown louder alongside high-profile antitrust cases, raising new concerns about the tech giant’s strong position in both the search and online advertising industries.
Many site owners say Google’s algorithm changes and manual removals are not transparent and often hurt smaller sites most, squeezing out competition and making it harder for independent voices to be seen online. As the U.S. Department of Justice and regulators in other countries take a closer look at Google’s actions, the debate over who controls online visibility is heating up.
SandBoxing: Sudden Drops and Hard-Hit Businesses
People across different industries have reported seeing their websites lose traffic or ranking overnight with no clear reason from Google. These drops can be crushing for businesses that depend on search visitors for their income.
For example, a July 17, 2025, post by @sreerajmajay on X accused Google of wiping out many independent sites with a major algorithm update in September 2022, arguing that the company replaced original content with AI-generated summaries pulled from scraped data.
Many webmasters feel smaller websites are most at risk, while larger companies and Google’s products seem to get preferred treatment.
A well-known case involves HouseFresh.com, which suffered a major loss of traffic after a 2024 Google update, resulting in staff being let go, according to a report from the BBC.
Other sites, like MyTriggers.com, have also said Google unfairly pushes its shopping services up the rankings, burying competitor sites off the first page.
Although a judge later ruled MyTriggers did not show enough evidence of harm to rivals, their story echoes a common worry: Google’s search algorithms often seem to benefit the company’s products, putting smaller competitors at a disadvantage.
Daniel Brandt, who created the Google Watch website, has long said Google’s PageRank approach gives older, established sites an edge due to their backlink profiles, making it harder for new or smaller sites to break through.
While supporters like Chris Beasley from Google Watch-Watch say reputation-based rankings are fair, Brandt says this just makes Google’s hold on the web even tighter and keeps newcomers out.
Google’s Response: Updates Aim to Improve Search, Not Target Sites
Google says that regular updates to its search algorithms are meant to boost quality and give users better results, not to single out or hide any particular websites. A spokesperson told Reuters that traffic changes can come from many factors, such as seasonal trends, changing user interests, or usual search updates.
The company points out that its large share of the search market (89.2 percent of general searches and 94.9 percent on mobile) is the result of having a better search engine, not from blocking competitors.
Google has rolled out updates like Penguin (which tackled shady linking practices in 2012) and Panda (which focused on content quality) to fight spam tactics such as keyword stuffing and paid backlinks.
Still, many webmasters believe these changes sometimes hit the wrong sites, taking down legitimate pages for reasons that aren’t clear.
Unlike manual penalties—which site owners can see in Google Search Console after a review—algorithm-based demotions or what’s known as “sandboxing” often offer no warning at all, leaving webmasters confused about why their rankings fell.
Some of Google’s tactics have drawn attention from courts and officials. In 2014, e-Ventures Worldwide took Google to court when almost all their sites vanished from search. A judge ordered Google to release documents, pushing the company to reveal some of its more hidden practices.
In another case, the attorney general of Mississippi, backed by 40 other states, investigated Google’s lack of transparency, reflecting a broader movement to hold the company accountable for its influence on online competition.
