New study confirms the obvious, search results are only getting worse

[Alfonso Maruccia]

A hot potato: A recent study turns the anecdotal feeling that web search results are becoming increasingly useless into scientific evidence. When it comes to product reviews, major search engines have been effectively turned into spam-spreading machines.

The supposed decrease in the quality of web search engine results has seemingly been confirmed by a study conducted by German researchers. The scientists monitored Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year, looking at the search engine result pages (SERPs) for 7,392 product review queries. They found that all three search engines are now showing lower-quality results to users.

Netizens have been complaining about web search quality issues for years, according to the study, but this is the first time a 'longitudinal investigation' has tested how SEO-oriented and affiliate content affects today's search engines. Google, Bing and even DuckDuckGo – which compiles over 400 different search sources including Bing – have significant problems with highly optimized (affiliate) web content.

The researchers also observed an inverse relationship between affiliate marketing campaigns and content complexity. This means that a web page mostly designed to push affiliate links and SEO-optimized text will provide absolutely the worst content to users searching for a specific product.

All three search engines tested in the study have been gamed by large-scale affiliate spam campaigns, and any effort to counter this kind of link manipulation tactics has been temporary at best. Google appears to have the most effective approach in thwarting affiliate spam manipulation.

Popular search engines are losing the cat-and-mouse game against SEO-oriented spam, the German researchers say, while the line between "benign" content and worthless link farms has become increasingly blurry. The situation will only worsen with generative AI algorithms, which can be (ab)used to instantly eject a lot of low-quality, fact-free content that would be perfect for SEO spam and SERP manipulation.

The researchers conclude that "dynamic adversarial spam" in the form of low-quality, mass-produced commercial content deserves more attention, but they don't provide any practical recommendations. A static evaluation done on a highly dynamic market isn't enough to develop an effective counter strategy, they said.

In response to the German researchers' work, Google highlighted that the study focused solely on product review content and doesn't reflect the overall "quality and helpfulness" of search results for the billions of queries it sees every day. Specific improvements have been implemented to address the SEO spam issue, Google added, so the cat-and-mouse game can keep going.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101560-study-confirms-search-results-major-engines-getting-worse.html

 

[RandomWAN]

In other news: Water is wet. Search results have been in a downward spiral for over a decade and much of it because these garbage auto-aggregators (top 10 lists and the like) swamp search results when you're trying to find any information and the best part is they're allowed to since the search engines are getting paid by these sites.

 

[arrowflash]

In other news: Water is wet. Search results have been in a downward spiral for over a decade and much of it because these garbage auto-aggregators (top 10 lists and the like) swamp search results when you're trying to find any information and the best part is they're allowed to since the search engines are getting paid by these sites.

True but until around 6 years ago Google search was still useful. Google search results have become much much worse during the last few years, especially since the pandemic. Now I'm finding it nearly impossible to find any relevant links without appending something like 'reddit' or some forum or community name in my search queries.

What I find most disappointing is that there's not really a good alternative. I see people often suggesting Bing or Yandex but I find their search results almost as bad as current Google (they didn't take a nosedive like Google did though, their search engines just always been bad). Or even worse, suggesting sites like DuckDuckGo which are just different frontends for Google search - useful if you're privacy minded but in my experience they don't really help me in getting better search results compared to just using Google's frontpage.

 

[winjer]

I started to notice a few years ago, that Google results were getting increasingly bad.
And on youtube, they are erven worse.
Now, I'm using DuckDuckGo. Although not perfect, it does it's job as well or better than Google.

At this point, the search engine market is wide open for a company to come in, and sweep it up, like Google did almost 20 years ago.

 

[Revolution 11]

I started to notice a few years ago, that Google results were getting increasingly bad.
And on youtube, they are erven worse.
Now, I'm using DuckDuckGo. Although not perfect, it does it's job as well or better than Google.

At this point, the search engine market is wide open for a company to come in, and sweep it up, like Google did almost 20 years ago.

As Andy Grove once said, "Success breeds complacency" and "Only the paranoid survive".

We can see these two statements at work as Google is starting to collapse from the weight of its own success after years of lackluster effort and lack of focus on core products and extreme mismanagement of its own products.

 

[RandomWAN]

True but until around 6 years ago Google search was still useful. Google search results have become much much worse during the last few years, especially since the pandemic. Now I'm finding it nearly impossible to find any relevant links without appending something like 'reddit' or some forum or community name in my search queries.

What I find most disappointing is that there's not really a good alternative. I see people often suggesting Bing or Yandex but I find their search results almost as bad as current Google (they didn't take a nosedive like Google did though, their search engines just always been bad). Or even worse, suggesting sites like DuckDuckGo which are just different frontends for Google search - useful if you're privacy minded but in my experience they don't really help me in getting better search results compared to just using Google's frontpage.

Since about 2016-2017 I've been doing related searches with filters for sites or excluding certain terms to cut down on the amount of noise I get, but it's the same with every major search engine at this point. It's part of the reason I've been using Brave's search engine more and more, though sometimes I still have to fall back on Google, especially with image searches. If Brave sticks to their customer-focused approach, it may stay more clear of the pitfalls of major search engines. It's really become fleshed out in the past couple of years.

 

[arrowflash]

Since about 2016-2017 I've been doing related searches with filters for sites or excluding certain terms to cut down on the amount of noise I get, but it's the same with every major search engine at this point. It's part of the reason I've been using Brave's search engine more and more, though sometimes I still have to fall back on Google, especially with image searches. If Brave sticks to their customer-focused approach, it may stay more clear of the pitfalls of major search engines. It's really become fleshed out in the past couple of years.

Isn't Brave search just another Google search engine frontend with some custom filtering?

 

[RandomWAN]

Isn't Brave search just another Google search engine frontend with some custom filtering?

You can allow it to mix or fall back on Google, but it is a separate search engine. I get different results and avoid a lot of the crap sites using it.

Brave Search - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[redhat]

It does not need any studies, back in the day I could get/find almost all of what I wanted from just within the google results but now it is easier to write some sites/forums name/urls rather than searching for them. I started to use ChatGPT to search for information until there is (unlikely) better search engine

 

[arrowflash]

You can allow it to mix or fall back on Google, but it is a separate search engine. I get different results and avoid a lot of the crap sites using it.

Brave Search - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks, I'll test it for some time then.

 

[wiyosaya]

In response to the German researchers' work, Google highlighted that the study focused solely on product review content and doesn't reflect the overall "quality and helpfulness" of search results for the billions of queries it sees every day. Specific improvements have been implemented to address the SEO spam issue, Google added, so the cat-and-mouse game can keep going.

Leave it to Google to be in a state of denial.. IMO, it just goes to show Google's dysfunction. They want to make it seem like they are not the main driver of search results degradation in quality. Google, you cannot avoid the fact that your quest for the ultimate cash cow is a big part of the decrease in search result quality.

IMO - Search engine results have been degrading for over 20-years.

 

[p51d007]

I use duckduckgo...if it isn't there, I probably don't need to find it.
If people would use quote marks ", dash, minus signs. Wouldn't that help?

 

[Durch]

What else should we expect with all of the tweaking they do to prevent, alter, or limit what comes back in a result set.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

So it's not my imagination Google, DuckDuckGo etc searches are returning more and more useless crap and it's getting harder to find the info I want.

Nope quotes and the like don't help, it often means no results can be found.

 

[adamada72]

Odd comments that Google isn't trying/doing enogh to solve this issue. Web sites were not cheap to develope 25 years ago and so every site was basically a real site/content. As time went by its become cheaper to make sites and so it's more profitable to host a spam site/content. Seeing as how most of the users on the web now are bots I suspect a ton of sites and content are fake now too. Can you imagine sorting out that vast amount of fake content that's designed to seem real. Search engines can't win this. Infact everything will become so low effort we'll be underwater in trash. Things to look forward too

 

[James Ryan]

YouTube is by far the worst at the moment.
For any kind of search.
It shows 3 maybe 4 videos on the topic then gives up and shows you random junk and shorts.

 

[hahahanoobs]

This sounds very vague to me. I'm missing examples I can directly relate to.

Can't say I noticed a drastic shift. I'm still satisfied with what I'm finding on the first page of results, so I can't complain yet.

 

[DefaultD]

This sounds very vague to me. I'm missing examples I can directly relate to.

Can't say I noticed a drastic shift. I'm still satisfied with what I'm finding on the first page of results, so I can't complain yet.

I’ll give you a specific example. I started playing Rec League Soccer about 7 years ago, and I was responsible for purchasing game balls for our matches. A google search result back then gave me links to blogs and sites that explained the different levels of soccer balls and certifications, and have some recommendations. Now-a-days the same search just gives me either sites trying to sell me stuff without any unbiased reviews, or websites that agragate the same info and try to make money off my click-throughs. I can’t find the old pages or even new pages with useful content. My example here is soccer balls, but I find the same issue with trying to research any specific type of product I’m looking to buy. It seems Google is more interested in trying to sell me stuff than give me useful search results.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I’ll give you a specific example. I started playing Rec League Soccer about 7 years ago, and I was responsible for purchasing game balls for our matches. A google search result back then gave me links to blogs and sites that explained the different levels of soccer balls and certifications, and have some recommendations. Now-a-days the same search just gives me either sites trying to sell me stuff without any unbiased reviews, or websites that agragate the same info and try to make money off my click-throughs. I can’t find the old pages or even new pages with useful content. My example here is soccer balls, but I find the same issue with trying to research any specific type of product I’m looking to buy. It seems Google is more interested in trying to sell me stuff than give me useful search results.

I get this when searching "Rec League Soccer game balls"
Are those the results you were looking for and didn't get?
Maybe keywords matter more now than before? Clear cache and cookies? idk.

Rec League Soccer game balls - Google Search

 

[Dr Roboto]

I didn't really understand this article because it was big on buzzwords and thin on actual explanation. So I did some research (thanks ChatGPT). Maybe this will help others.

TLDR:
The overuse of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and affiliate links is making it harder for search engines to provide the best and most relevant content to users. Websites that focus too much on these aspects tend to dominate search results, often at the expense of content quality.

SEO and Affiliate Content:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): This is a technique used by website creators to make their site more visible on search engines. When a site is well-optimized for search engines, it appears higher in search results. SEO involves using specific keywords, meta tags, linking strategies, and other methods to rank higher.
- Affiliate Content: These are web pages that contain links to products or services. When a visitor clicks on these links and makes a purchase, the website owner earns a commission. Often, the primary goal of these pages is to get visitors to click on these links and buy products.

Problems with Search Engines:
- Highly Optimized Content Dominating Search Results: When websites overuse SEO and affiliate strategies, they may rank higher in search results, even if their content isn't necessarily the most informative or relevant. This means that when you search for something on Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo, you might get a lot of results from these highly optimized sites.
- Difficulty in Finding Quality Content: Because of the prevalence of these SEO and affiliate-heavy sites, it can be harder for users to find genuinely useful, informative content. The search engines struggle to differentiate between high-quality content and content that is just well-optimized for search rankings.

Inverse Relationship Between Affiliate Campaigns and Content Complexity:
- Quality vs. Optimization: The study found that there's often an inverse relationship between the amount of affiliate marketing a page does and the quality or complexity of its content. In simpler terms, the more a page is filled with affiliate links and SEO tactics, the less likely it is to contain detailed, valuable information.
- Impact on Users: This means that when you're searching for information or products, the pages you find might be more focused on selling or ranking high rather than providing you with the best or most thorough information. As a result, users may end up with less useful content in their search results.

 

[Dr Roboto]

For me, I have really noticed a substantial (exponential) decline in Google search results over the last year or two. I am just overwhelmed with advertisements and links to top-10 crap sites. I fell like I just get a "wall of spam" if I try to search for any topic that is remotely related to a product. Its as if COVID broke the internet, insert Wreck-It Ralph image here . It seems to be a combination of what is described in this article and Google's quest to make more money through advertisements. The ironic thing is that Google's "Shopping" capability is utterly useless now, as it never actually list the item I am looking for.

 

[Underdog]

As in most aspects of life these days. It's all about the money. Set up an automated money generator, sit back and watch it roll in.

 

[DefaultD]

I get this when searching "Rec League Soccer game balls"
Are those the results you were looking for and didn't get?
Maybe keywords matter more now than before? Clear cache and cookies? idk.

Rec League Soccer game balls - Google Search

That’s not the search I would have run, but the results are typical. What is the difference between a $170 Pro Soccer ball, and a $15 training ball? Construction, certification, durability performance, etc. Every company has a different naming scheme for the different levels and they change year to year. Different tech built into different balls. What’s the average price on a certain level of ball and what’s a good deal? And the thing I miss the most is reviews of people actually using the different products. These are all things that I’ve learned from years of researching and buying, I used to be able to find all this info very easily with google—now I can’t.

One of the search results was “Top 10 soccer balls you can buy in 2023”. Sounds like exactly what I want, but it’s just a random list of soccer balls and no actual reason why they’re good—just the brands’ own marketing spewed back at the reader.

I like to research things before I buy them, and these are the kind of results I’m getting across the board. Imagine you need to make a financial decision on a topic you know nothing about. Google search used to yield results that could educate you and help you make a more informed decision. Now they just spew out lists of places to buy said products in order of who paid them the most advertising dollars.

 

[Lazz1]

Yeah, it definitely sucks. Basically have to use topic + reddit at the end. Actually I've found ChatGPT way more helpful than Google now in a lot of cases. Also young kids are using tiktok a lot more over Google to search for things. Google Maps is still solid for finding stuff but the general search is basically going to eventually turn into Bard trying to summarize useful information at the top and a bunch of spammy links....

 

[human7]

I use duckduckgo...if it isn't there, I probably don't need to find it.
If people would use quote marks ", dash, minus signs. Wouldn't that help?

I almost exclusively use DuckDuckGo, but I sometimes turn to Google because DuckDuckGo doesn't respect the minus, I see fewer results but not that many fewer.

In general we need more power query capabilities. But we also need SEO to not compromise search results. And it starts with platforms cleaning up their crap (I'm looking at you, Amazon).