A new study conducted by a group of academic researchers confirms that user complaints about worsening search engine results have some truth to them. According to a report published by researchers from the University of Leipzig, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, and ScaDS.AI, all search engines have significant issues with highly optimized content related to affiliate marketing.
In their article titled “Is Google Getting Worse? A Longitudinal Study of SEO Spam in Search Engines,” the researchers monitored Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year to analyze 7,392 queries related to product reviews. While they couldn’t predict specific results on which pages they would find, they were able to determine that “higher-ranked pages are, on average, more optimized, more commercialized through affiliate marketing, and exhibit lower text quality.”
However, the study has certain limitations as it only focuses on product reviews. As Nazmul Hasan, the founder and CEO of Microters, a digital marketing and software development services provider, said, “Think about it this way: if you have access to only one aisle in a large store, you may miss out on many other things in that store.”
Nazmul further explains that most pages found in the study attempt to sell products, often through special links that generate profits if someone makes a purchase. He states that these pages prioritize sales over providing valuable and trustworthy information.
Google representative Ned Adriance commented on the study’s findings, stating that it only focused on product reviews and doesn’t reflect the overall quality and usefulness of search results for billions of daily queries. He also added that Google is introducing specific improvements to address the issues raised in the study.
The researchers extensively analyzed changes made by search engine companies and concluded that Google updates had a noticeable but mostly short-lived impact on improving results. However, there are still numerous spammy domains and a general decline in text quality across all three search engines.
It should be noted that numerous external entities have conducted their own studies on search engine result quality, and most of them have found that Google outperforms other search engines in terms of quality.
In addition, research conducted by the University of Zurich, the University of Bern, the Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, and the University of Konstanz in Germany demonstrates that other search engines return results that favor conspiracy theories and often redirect to websites dedicated to conspiracies.
It is evident that quality issues regarding search engine results are still significant. While Google has implemented several improvements and achieves better results than other search engines, there is still much room for improvement. Support for affiliate links and tackling spam on pages are areas that need to be addressed to provide users with more valuable and reliable search results.
FAQ Section
1. What quality issues are confirmed by the new study?
The study confirms that all search engines have significant issues with highly optimized content related to affiliate marketing.
2. Which search engines were monitored in the study?
The study monitored Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
3. What did the researchers find about higher-ranked pages?
The researchers found that higher-ranked pages are, on average, more optimized, more commercialized through affiliate marketing, and exhibit lower text quality.
4. What are the limitations of the study?
The study focused only on product reviews, so it doesn’t reflect the overall quality and usefulness of search results.
5. What does the Google representative say about the study results?
The Google representative stated that the study only focused on product reviews and doesn’t reflect the overall quality and usefulness of search results. They announced specific improvements to address the issues raised.
6. What were the results of the analysis of changes made by search engine companies?
The researchers found that Google updates had a noticeable impact on improving results, although they were mostly short-lived. However, there are still many spammy domains, and text quality generally declines across all three search engines.
7. What other studies have been conducted on search engine result quality?
Other studies have shown higher quality for Google compared to other search engines. However, it should be noted that some search engines return results that favor conspiracy theories and often redirect to websites dedicated to conspiracies.
8. What improvements is Google implementing?
Google is implementing various improvements to enhance result quality, but there is still much room for improvement, especially in the areas of affiliate links and spam on pages.
Suggested Related Links:
- Bing
- DuckDuckGo
- University of Zurich
- University of Bern
- Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
- University of Konstanz
The source of the article is from the blog newyorkpostgazette.com