Over the years, more and more users and experts have sounded the alarm that Google's search quality is seriously declining.
A recent study shows that Google Search and Bing Search results are increasingly filled with spam created by websites for search engine optimization (SEO).
Computer scientists at the University of Leipzig, Bauhaus University Weimar and the Center for Augmented Reality and AI in Germany conducted research on three popular search engines today: Google Search, Bing Search and DuckDuckGo.
The research team analyzed 7,392 product review search terms over a year on the above search engines. The results showed that the highest-ranking websites were the most SEO-optimized, with many embedded links, while the quality of the text content was relatively low.
This shows that Google is failing to prevent spam websites with low quality content from appearing at the top of search results.
One of the ways many websites make money today is by compiling and reviewing products. These articles are linked to buy products at retailers like Amazon, BestBuy or other e-commerce platforms. When readers click on the link and buy the product, the website will receive a certain amount of "commission".
While some websites strictly manage these business interests, others just focus on gaming the system with SEO tricks to make quick money without caring that the site is filled with spam content.
"SEO is a constant battle and we see websites that specialize in content spam coming out on top every time," the research team's report said.
Google doesn’t want this to happen. They keep making changes and tweaking their algorithms, but their efforts have so far been ineffective and have only had “temporary positive effects.” However, one bright spot the report points out is that Google is still significantly better than Bing and DuckDuckGo.
Lily Ray, director of SEO at advertising agency Amsive Digital, said Google “seems to have fallen asleep.” The SEO community can see that the search giant is addressing the problem, but not with the commitment to follow through.
“We’ve never seen Google in such turmoil,” Ray said. “In some ways, they’re getting better, but in other ways, things are getting worse.”
“Money is driving search results on Google. You don’t always find the content you want at the top of the page. It’s no longer a level playing field,” said Charlotte Sheridan, director of the Small Biz Institute, a company that specializes in promoting brands on Google and social media.
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