One of the first things that every newbie hears when they enter the world of public relations is that “advertising is what you pay for, PR is what you pray for”. So, first of all, let’s completely bust that myth.

Let us take you all the way back to the ‘90s when people started using Google for searching online. Remember how primitive it used to be back then? Google has certainly come a long way and no other search engine can compete with it today. But the tech giant has also had another effect on us internet users – we’ve become, well, a bit lazy. That’s where the Google Knowledge Panel comes into play.

Let’s say I want to find out something online. What I should do is go to Google, search for it, view the results, and click the one that seems most reliable and informative, right? Wrong. Apparently, that’s not the way it works these days. Anyone with any connection to the field of digital marketing knows how big of a player Google has become. Recently, however, a new question has surfaced, leaving many experts scratching their heads: Has Google become too big, even for its own good? Have all the old paradigms of search engine optimization (SEO) and online reputation management (ORM) become irrelevant?

Try and remember the last time you downloaded an app that you weren’t very familiar with beforehand (no, we’re not talking about WhatsApp or the Domino’s Pizza app). Chances are your eye met the review section on the Apple Store or Google Play, and that you at least skimmed through some reviews that were shown.