WSJ - How Google Skewed Search Results
- Thread starter TheRedBaron
- Start date
Here's the most interesting parts...their summary of the most controversial pages of the FTC report, and the screenshots of the actual pages in the report.
FTC Docs - Google - Album on Imgur
The best example of skewing, I think:
Demoting shopping comparison sites was one of the few things they've done in reason years that I applaud. I detested those sites, now I don't have to bump into the first page full of them.
Saying that it might be better than the direction Google have been going in of only showing Big Brands® and removing much of the diversity that always made search feel more like a search than a Yahoo style approved directory.
Saying that it might be better than the direction Google have been going in of only showing Big Brands® and removing much of the diversity that always made search feel more like a search than a Yahoo style approved directory.
Sure. But it's the process that's interesting. Google has their own comparison site. Google manual raters loved the competitor's comparison sites. So Google tweaked the criteria given to the raters until they had justification the zap them. Not because Google didn't think the competition was good...quite the opposite. And once they did zap them, they publicly denied it...said it was the result of quality oriented algo changes.
I assume it was the same process when they acquired ITA software and released their flight search widget. And, perhaps now with their recently released car insurance widget.
youtube over dailymotion, vimeo, etc.
google maps/places/local over yelp, facebook, mapquest (where is that one in serps?), yahoo, bing (their on-site seo is horrible tho so shouldn't rank ever)
but it's their site, they should do whatever they want with it. Nobody gonna tell me how I have to run my sites...
One good thing I've noticed (listen up pro tip here bros) - By pushing profiles on these sites that google competes with and devalues - it can in turn push up your google properties. They don't want your vimeo video to rank that well... put it on youtbue as well and push that vimeo video, then they have a nice youtube video to replace it with in SERPs. Get it?
google maps/places/local over yelp, facebook, mapquest (where is that one in serps?), yahoo, bing (their on-site seo is horrible tho so shouldn't rank ever)
but it's their site, they should do whatever they want with it. Nobody gonna tell me how I have to run my sites...
One good thing I've noticed (listen up pro tip here bros) - By pushing profiles on these sites that google competes with and devalues - it can in turn push up your google properties. They don't want your vimeo video to rank that well... put it on youtbue as well and push that vimeo video, then they have a nice youtube video to replace it with in SERPs. Get it?
Can you really hate the hustle? I mean think about this in a bigger sense. Google is just one simple website. If you don't like their shit then fucking use yahoo,bing or some other jerk off. The fact that a website is getting looked into by the FTC over their own search pages goes to show really how big we think of google as.
The difference, in this case, is whether Google is a monopoly, and subject to U.S. anti-trust laws. The investigation would not have have happened without that context.
That's what makes it interesting to me, and worth discussing.
Yea if I create a monopoly in a market... I want all that monies, and I don't agree with any laws that say otherwise. Go make your own money greedy bastards. Oh Merica
And they what? Manipulated their own testers they compensated somehow probably? And tweaked their properties some too based on the testing. Gotta test and adapt...
The EU's anti-trust laws, as well as general public opinion, is much more likely to be an issue for Google in the future than 'Murica's.
The other interesting part of this is the the internal FTC report wasn't supposed to be leaked, and is much more critical of Google than what officially came out. Lobbying works.
Google sets the rating rules in the Webmaster Raters? Guidebook (available pirated) that the raters use to evaluate websites. Google pays Lionsbridge/Leapforce who in turn pay the raters. The raters do as Google says, in the guise of being "independent" from inside Google?
Wait... you're saying I should push my vimeo video to get my YT video up? But why wouldn't I just push my YT video directly then? lol
Shiiieett. Sorry m8, that article was free/open when I read it last night. Apologies.
If you don't have a subscription to WSJ or Barrons you can just Google the title + first line of the article and you will find the entire "paid" version in the SERPs.
Confirmed.
Didn't realize this before but if you arrive on the WSJ article direct or by referral then the article gets locked. If you visit the same URL via google then it's open.
Makes sense, they want to appear in google news.
google: wsj.com/articles/how-google-skewed-search-results-1426793553
to get access to the full article.
Yea that can work. But think same principal as building tiers instead of all links straight to money site bro. These are complex algos Google uses.