Has Google spelled the end of Content is King for publishers?

As they say in the advertising business, Content is king.
If you write quality original content, traffic will flow to your site and your web site will earn you money.

This has been the principle that publishers with Adsense monetized sites have faithfully adhered to, but is there a dark cloud looming on the horizon?

Google Adsense is now a mature medium and some may argue that it has peaked as an advertising power.

Google is a public company that must constantly evolve and rationalize their products in order to maintain number one position.

Through its Adsense program, it has created an empire which, up until now has provided an earnings vehicle for small and large sized business models.
Content publishers have dutifully tapped out their articles and accumulated admirable advertising revenue through their monthly paycheck from Google.

Not many have bothered to question the unwritten Google laws of Search Engine Optimization.

Recently many content publishers have awakened to a rude shock.

Google have changed their algorithms and consequently many genuine publishers have lost their search engine position in Google’s attempt to quell the upsurge in questionable search optimization techniques.
There is not much these publishers can do to re-establish their positioning.
In reality Google has no case to answer.
They provide their main search engine as a free service and consequently have the right to list sites as they see fit.
Google has also been known to inexplicably shuffle results.
Google is reluctant to explain their strategy and their algorithms are not made public.

So what has Google got planned for us?

With the success of Adwords and sponsored sites, Google must have its sights on a switch from free listings to a geographical compilation of paid classified directories.

The possibility exists that these paid directories will eventually include general blog sites as well as commercial business sites.
This will surely spell the demise for the followers of content is king.
Unless the smaller players capture a grater share of the market and create some real competition for Google, this is more of likelihood than a possibility.