Danny Sullivan: Google is the “New California”

It’s official, says Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineLand.com; Google is no longer the most popular kid on the block – at least when it comes to attracting and keeping good people.

Citing the recent departure of Lars Rasmussen, the creator of the highly popular Google Maps and the not-so-popular Google Wave. Sources indicate that he’s headed to Facebook, to join Facebook COO and former Google bigwig Sheryl Sandberg.

Sullivan says that’s no big surprise. Why? Because Google is the current “California” of SEO.

Sullivan compares the Google of today to the California of the 70s and 80s. Everybody wanted to live in California back then; enough of them moved there that the state went from being a relatively problem-free paradise to an economic, bureaucratic nightmare. Still, more people want to move to California all the time. Those who get tired of the overcrowding, etc., eventually leave for more appealing scenery, until those places too become another “California.”

Sullivan says that is exactly what Google is going through right now – growing pains that any huge company eventually experiences. People who’ve worked there for a very long time are starting to get restless and are looking to move on. Still, more people want to work for Google, even though their expectations of how they will benefit are much different than those who joined before the company went public.

Sullivan points out that Yahoo was the “new California” in search before Google was, and Facebook is undoubtedly poised to take the helm at some point in the future. But his point is that these changes, while they may not be necessarily good for a company, are unavoidable as companies grow into “adults.”