American New Yorker magazine article on March 10, original title: What Google won’t show you.
Recently, I Googled “best toaster” on my phone and the results immediately showed product images from various high-end brands like “Bamuda”. At the bottom of the search results page is an ad for online retailers like Amazon and “Wayfair”; followed by another ad for “Popular Toasters” with a user review logo; and then an ad titled “Other users also asked ” (eg, is it worth buying an expensive bread maker?).
Scrolling further down, I see a flurry of articles that are apparently designed to take advantage of Google’s search algorithm and profit from affiliate marketing: Good Housekeeping’s Toaster Tips, Web Consumer Guide “Wirecutter” 2022 The 4 Best Toasters”. Further down is a map of where to buy a toaster, some very close to my apartment. I felt lost in the suggestions, overwhelmed with information, but none of them satisfied me.
Algorithms tell us what to look at
Recently, Breton, a 26-year-old software engineer in San Francisco, published a blog post titled “Google Search is Dying.” When it comes to product reviews or shopping methods, the results from Google’s search engine are abysmal, Brillton said. Those who want to know what the “real general public” thinks of a product, instead of “taking it”, have learned some workarounds, such as adding “Reddit” to the search, to find it on the social platform related topic.
Brillton told me recently that his frustration started at the end of 2020. “One day when I went online, I started to feel that something wasn’t right,” he said. Google ads were introduced in 2000 and have proliferated since then. Decades of search engine optimization have resulted in content designed not to inform readers, but to gain prominence on Google pages. This may be one reason why my toaster search results are so redundant.
Other Reasons for Dissatisfaction with Google Search
Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of privacy-focused search engine company Duck Duck Forward, cited three other reasons why many users are unhappy with Google Search. The first is Google’s practice of tracking users’ behavior, which breeds a creepy, chasing Internet advertising that Google can profit from. The second is that Google prioritizes its own services in search results. Third, users are simply tired of Google’s domination of their Internet experience. Google reportedly pays Apple $15 billion a year to keep the default search engine on the iPhone. On Google’s Android system, changing a user’s preferred search engine requires cumbersome settings tweaks and pop-up prompts urging users to switch back to Google.
Google’s “Public Liaison for Search” Danny Sullivan told me that people using Google to find “Reddit” posts actually demonstrate how search works. Users rely on Google to guess their needs and become passive as a whole. If they want, they can refine the query and limit the search results, for example, by setting a price range (toaster: $40 to $100), or listing criteria to exclude (“toaster” instead of “ oven ”). “One of the changes now is that if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you’re blaming the search engine,” Sullivan said, acknowledging that many users crave “more non-commercial information, more information based on information for the community”.
Google can tweak its search algorithm if it wants to. In fact, its algorithms are already changing. For example, in 2020, I noticed that my Google image search results tended to be images from the image social site “Pinterest”. However, Pinterest shows up almost zero in my search results these days. When I asked Sullivan about the change, he mentioned that Google is increasing diversity recently.
Product reviews are more enticing
Search engines are ultimately one of the convenient, automated tools for finding answers, no matter how “authentic” some users may crave search results. For many, a toaster from Amazon and “Wayfair” may be enough. I wouldn’t buy a $300 Bamuda toaster just because it featured prominently on a search page. But when I pored over product reviews, I admit to being tempted. “This toaster is a lot of fun,” according to a Wired writer, while a Reddit user offered convincing evidence: “Before Covid-19, I would go to my next-door neighbor. home, just to use his bamuda.” This is advice that no algorithm can give. (by Kyle Chaka, biographical translation).