Not Up To Scratch: Google search results have gotten much worse, despite claim of everything being fine, finds study

A recent study conducted by researchers from Leipzig University, Bauhaus-University Weimar, and the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence highlights a decline in the quality of Google search results, particularly in product-review searches.

The study focused on 7,392 product-review search terms over a year on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo. The findings revealed that the highest-ranked pages featured more optimization, affiliate links, and lower-quality text.

This decline is attributed to aggressive affiliate marketing strategies, where websites prioritize monetization through product reviews with affiliate links.

Affiliate marketing involves websites earning commissions by directing users to retailers like Amazon, Flipkart, BestBuy, and Walmart through special links.

While major publishers often maintain strict policies separating reviews and editorial decisions from business concerns, some less scrupulous sites focus on maximizing profits, contributing to the prevalence of low-quality content.

The study indicates that search engine optimization (SEO) tactics, employed to boost website visibility on search engines like Google, are intensifying, leading to a constant battle between search engines and SEO engineers.

Google, along with competitors, constantly adjusts algorithms to combat spam and improve results. However, the study suggests that search engines are losing the cat-and-mouse game against SEO spam, with spammers exploiting new loopholes as algorithms evolve.

Despite these challenges, the study acknowledges that Google performed better compared to Bing and DuckDuckGo, and Google’s results showed improvement over the course of the study. However, the broader narrative suggests a growing concern about the declining quality of Google search results.

Lily Ray, Senior Director of SEO and Head of Organic Research at Amsive Digital, notes that while Google is aware of its problems and actively working to address them, there is a consensus within the SEO community that the search engine is currently in a state of disarray.

The complexity of managing billions of daily searches, combined with the evolving nature of SEO tactics, presents an ongoing challenge for Google.

Critics also point to the increasing prominence of ads in search results and Google’s preference for displaying information from its own services.

The study adds to the growing body of evidence and narratives suggesting a decline in Google’s search quality in recent years, prompting concerns about the overall state of the internet economy, which heavily relies on the search giant.

(With inputs from agencies)