Did Google lose its age of innocence?

By sule | Fri, 12/05/2014 - 16:42

Google and the right to manipulate search resultsHello,

For many of us, Google has represented always speed, precision and… neutrality. That means that Google does not manipule the SERP (Search engine results page) and  always show the most relevant entries for people. But after reading Enrique Dans’s post “Google and the right to manipulate search results” I am beginning to have my doubts.

On the basis of a judicial victory of Google in US courts about its Search Engine Page Results (SERP), Enrique Dans denounces that the California Giant editorializes its results of searches “so that instead of us finding the most relevant results, we first find those that offer its services”.

We even can see this change of paradigm in the way Google distributes results on SERP: “Google has reduced the space that natural results occupy to around 20% of the screen area, filling the rest with advertising and its own products”.

Troubled? I think we have reasons to be worried, but even this… Enjoy it!

Andreu Sulé

University of Barcelona