Pointed out that the top Google search results are occupied by 'Google owned websites'
Google search is widely used around the world, and it is said that nearly 90% of searches conducted throughout the United States use Google search. According to an analysis conducted by
Google's Top Search Result? Surprise! It's Google – The Markup
https://themarkup.org/google-the-giant/2020/07/28/google-search-results-prioritize-google-products-over-competitors
'We want to get you out of Google as quickly as possible and move you to the right place,'
However, recent Google search results are dominated by websites owned by Google and knowledge graphs provided by Google, and Google thinks that the content it provides is a “appropriate place” for users Markup Pointed out.
In fact, Markup surveyed the most recent 15,000 popular queries and found that 41% of the first pages displayed when searching mobile devices such as iPhone are actually Google-owned websites or knowledge graphs Turned out. If you limited to the page range displayed immediately after pressing the search button and did not scroll, 62.6% was occupied by Google related things. Of the sample queries used by Markup, once in 5 times, it seems that there were no links to websites other than Google within the range displayed on the screen immediately after the transition.
For example, the search result screen when searching Google with the word 'myocardial infarction' on iPhone X looks like this. First of all, the dictionary definition provided by Google is displayed on the panel, and below that, the related search function 'PEOPLE ALSO ASK' also provided by Google is displayed.
Below that is a knowledge graph provided by Google...
After the search for other illnesses was recommended in the 'related conditions' panel, links to websites not related to Google were finally displayed. By the time users reached links to non-Google websites, they had to scroll about 42% of the page.
Looking at the image below, you can see how the screen displayed when searching with the word 'Linux' changed between 2000 and 2020.
Markup points out that Google is changing its policy of 'leaving users out of Google promptly and directing them to websites related to search words', and trying to keep it to Google-related websites as much as possible. It has been pointed out that 'traffic from organic search to general websites has been significantly reduced', and it is said that the increase in ad inventory has spurred this problem.
Organic search traffic is decreasing due to increase in Google search inventory-GIGAZINE
A number of industries and websites have criticized Google's strategy to prioritize its own links prior to links to competing websites. In November 2019, travel researcher Skift said, ``The fact that Google is taking advantage of search engines to take market share from competitors in the travel sector is no longer controversial,'' it said on its website . And claimed that the entire online travel industry was suffering.
Travel-related websites are one of the industries that have suffered a lot of damage due to Google's preferential treatment on the Google search results screen. ' Google Flight ', a service that can find cheap flights, is displayed on the Google search result screen of the user who entered the word to search for flights , so it is blocking the flow to other travel related websites That.
On the other hand, major online reservation sites such as Expedia and Booking.com are paying advertising fees to Google and displaying ads on the search result screen. As such, Markup pointed out that travel websites that compete with Google are not just competitors, but also Google customers in some cases.
It seems that there were discussions within Google regarding the decision to emphasize its website and services on the search result screen. In the internal Google email obtained by the European Commission in connection with the antitrust investigation, it was said that by displaying its own product on the search result screen, cases where traffic increased more than double ..
Meanwhile, Google spokeswoman Lara Levin claimed that the Google search results screen wasn't designed to prioritize Google-related websites. He said that all displayed content was selected based on the user's interests and validated through a rigorous testing process. He accused Markup of its research methods 'based on a sample of non-typical searches.'
In addition, Levin explains that the age has already changed with regard to the policy that Mr. Page insisted in 2004 to 'move to the website promptly from the Google search screen'. At that time, it was important to get people from the search results screen to your website, but it's not the case in the modern world of search technology, Levin said.
In a 2019 survey , search engine analyst Rand Fishkin found that 12% of user clicks on search results screens go to Google-owned websites. 'Google can keep its users on the platform for maximum long-term profit,' said Fishkin.
In recent years, there have been moves to question Google's control, and Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are facing antitrust lawsuits. In 2017, the European Commission told Alphabet that it would prefer to display ' Google Shopping ', which is a price search service operated by Google, on the search result screen, and caused disadvantages to other price comparison sites. We have imposed a fine of 220 million euros (about 300 billion yen).
Google is fined about 300 billion yen for violating EU competition law (antitrust law)-GIGAZINE
However, in 2019, 41 comparative shopping sites sent a letter (PDF file) to the European Commission, claiming that it 'has not experienced a significant increase in traffic to its website even after sanctions on Google.' Google has continued to abuse its control, accusing the industry of a once-injured industry not fully recovering.
Related Posts:
in Web Service, Posted by log1h_ik