Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud

    Google Disputes Report That It Manipulates Search Results

    By
    Jaikumar Vijayan
    -
    July 1, 2015
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Google search

      Google today dismissed a study, which two academic researchers conducted and Yelp sponsored, that claims the company is deliberately degrading search engine results in order to favor its own content over that of rivals.

      In a statement to eWEEK, Google said Yelp’s claims are not new. “Yelp’s been making these arguments to regulators, and demanding higher placement in search results, for the past five years,” Google said. “This latest study is based on a flawed methodology that focuses on results for just a handful of cherry-picked queries. At Google, we focus on trying to provide the best results for our users,” company officials said.

      At issue is the method Google uses to display results when users search for certain items, especially those involving specialized content or local content. The researchers said their study shows that Google self-promotes its own content while deliberately downplaying the more organic results generated by its merit-based search algorithms.

      In the study, the researchers from Harvard Business School and Columbia Law School presented a sample of 2,690 Internet users with one of two variants of Web page listing results in response to different search questions. One set of pages listed results based on relevancy and included prominent links to sites like Yelp. The other page highlighted content from Google’s own properties.

      The researchers discovered that, in certain cases, users clearly preferred results that highlighted content Google generated, over the naturally generated results. However, in other situations, the opposite was true.

      For example, users preferred the interactive calculator that Google presents in its search results in response to mathematical questions, over the series of links the search engine organically generated.

      However, in other cases, the company’s practice of using its so-called “universal search” feature to play up results from its own properties, such as Google Plus, Google Local and Google Maps, is actually hurting consumers, the researchers said.

      For example, when users search for a local restaurant, Google’s search algorithm might trigger Yelp as the first result. But the results that Google ends up listing prominently in its so-called Local OneBox are almost always from its own search services. Users ended up preferring organic search results, rather than Google’s more specialized search results in such situations, the researchers found.

      They also concluded that the results Google presents to users via universal search are not always the best or most relevant. Often, the results generated organically by Google’s own merit-based search algorithm garner a higher ranking than the results the company ends up making prominent, they said.

      “Universal search in its operation is almost inherently exclusionary, for it uses the dominant search engine to divert traffic from Google’s specialized competitors (Expedia, Yelp, etc.) to its own versions of those companies,” the researchers said. “That fact has, unsurprisingly, [been scrutinized] both by European and American competition regulators.”

      Google’s strategy fits a pattern by monopolists, the researchers claimed. Faced with competition from specialty search services like Yelp, Expedia and others, Google’s response has been to first create clones of these services and then use its search engine dominance to play up those services.

      Complaints about Google’s use of its search engine dominance to hurt rivals are not new. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission previously investigated the company on the issue, but ended up not charging it with any misdeeds. The Competition Office at the European Commission, which oversees industry trade practices in the EU, is currently investigating Google on a similar issue in Europe.

      Jaikumar Vijayan
      Vijayan is an award-winning independent journalist and tech content creation specialist covering data security and privacy, business intelligence, big data and data analytics.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×