There are countless pages with terrible product reviews that are simply full of blah blah blah, in the view of scientists. A study evaluated around 7,400 keywords.
A recent study conducted by European researchers showed that Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo are delivering poor search results to their consumers. At least when it comes to when users are searching for product reviews. This is what a scientific study that lasted a year and analyzed almost 7,400 internet searches shows.
The scientists specifically aimed to search for product evaluations (the so-called reviews) because it is the type of content potentially permeated with affiliate programs. In other words, website owners include direct links to purchase those same products in online stores.
The study also concludes that the pages that appear higher in search results “show signs of lower textual quality”. Typically they are more optimized for online searches (the famous SEO ) and more monetized with sales programs.
SEO Spam
Manual analysis showed that review pages get weaker as they gain more affiliate links. They look like topic listings and have a little text to fill space. In other words, they are full of nonsense. This combination delivers little value to the user, in the researchers’ view.
So-called spam domains frequently appear in the highest positions of search engines. Bing and DuckDuckGo appear to be particularly affected by this problem, where sites created solely to capture search terms (keywords) come first.
The researchers conclude that reviews with more affiliate links typically have more optimizations aimed at SEO. “This conflicts with the user’s need for accurate and unbiased information,” they say.
Algorithm Updates
Search engines are moving to try to curb this problem. Google itself launches, from time to time, algorithm updates with the aim of improving search results. The most recent started in November 2023 and is still ongoing.
The effects are “remarkable”, according to the research, but they also last a very short time. And even so, it is still possible to find spammy domains and lower quality texts in the three main search engines. “There is still a lot of room for improvement,” say the scientists.
Knowing the Searchers
Google search engine
Google is a large technology company founded in 1998 by 2 students Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Stanford University . Its main product is the search engine that works as a research platform on the internet. The company also offers other online services such as Google Translate, Maps, Chrome, Drive and Photos, as well as physical devices such as Google Home and the Pixel line.
Bing search engine
Bing is the second largest search engine on the Internet. It was launched in June 2009 by the giant Microsoft to replace Live Search. A new background image is displayed daily on the homepage of this search engine, usually photos with animals or landscapes, to celebrate certain events, such as the launch day of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft can use videos as a background for supported browsers to HTML5 features.
DuckDuckGo search engine
The Search Engine, DuckDuckGo ( Web | Android | iOS) is a search engine that, like Google or Bing, displays results from web links, news, images and videos. The platform was launched in September 2008 in the United States, by entrepreneur Gabriel Weinberg.
One of DuckDuckGo’s biggest differences is that it doesn’t track and doesn’t store users’ search history. This way, the search engine algorithm does not try to predict users’ tastes and preferences, making it a safer alternative than traditional search engines.
