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131

How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet - WIRED (www.wired.com)

submitted 11 months ago by ijeff@lemdro.id to c/technology@beehaw.org

48 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from !google@lemdro.id

Google may be altering billions of search queries daily to generate results that increase purchases.

Testimony in an antitrust case revealed an internal Google slide about changes to its search algorithm, involving "semantic matching" to generate more commercial results.

Google covertly changes user queries, substituting them with ones that generate more revenue for the company and display shopping-oriented results.

This manipulation benefits Google's profits but harms search quality and raises advertiser costs.

Despite legal challenges, Google's market dominance allows it to continue these practices, impacting users' ability to access unbiased information.

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[–] Crotaro@beehaw.org 38 points 11 months ago (12 children)

This would explain why I feel like Google results have rarely been high quality unless I'm just trying to scratch at the surface of a topic or include "reddit" at the end of my search term.

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 months ago (11 children)

Even though results have gotten worse, every time I've tried another search engine the results have been even worse than Google.

[–] dan@upvote.au 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (9 children)

Have you tried Kagi? It's a paid service (which is good for people that don't like ads) and the results seem pretty good. They have a trial plan where you can do 100 searches. Where possible, it prioritises small sites that don't always appear in Google results at all, and it has far less SEO spam than Google.

[–] YuzuDrink@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I really need to try them and see how many searches I actually use. Even their higher paid tiers seem like way too few searches to me. But I have no actual idea.

[–] dan@upvote.au 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I would have agreed in the past, but they have an unlimited plan for $10/month now, which is why I'm more interested.

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I get that search is expensive to run, but $120 USD/yr is a lot.

Maybe it's worth cancelling something to pay for it, but idk. I won't even look at metered tiers. Knowing my scarcity aversion, I'd never use it. I didn't use a single Neeva trial search since I was hoarding them like Max Ethers from Final Fantasy.

[–] dan@upvote.au 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah. It's definitely expensive, which is why I haven't signed up for a subscription yet. Still thinking about it.

[–] acastcandream@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago

That's $120/yr is worth less to me than my privacy and desire to decouple from google tbh

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