It’s fair to say that for any website to end up surviving on the internet, especially if it is a website that is meant to earn any kind of profit and achieve widespread visibility, that site would need to get listed on Google because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up bringing it into contact with the vast majority of internet users who would pretty much only ever interact with a site if it’s on Google in the first please.
Hence, this essentially means that getting listed on Google is in many ways a mark of reliability and authenticity. Users tend not to trust sites that are not listed on the search engine, and if one looks at this like a mutually beneficial arrangement then there really is nothing wrong with it. After all, Google can help sites that would otherwise have not been found to acquire an audience that is really quite massive.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study from Sparktoro that analyzed trillions of Google searches indicated that 2 out of every 3 search results began and ended with Google. This essentially means that these search results gave users the information that they might have been looking for on Google itself. We have already seen this trend emerge and it has resulted in a lot of sites not getting the same amount of traffic that they used to which is quite dangerous since these sites rely on a heavy amount of traffic to make it so that they can maintain a reasonable level of profitability into the future.
An example of how Google is creating these enclosed loops can be seen with general queries. For example, if you make a query that involves any kind of basic calculation, you will receive the answer on the top of the search results page itself. General knowledge questions also tend to be answered on the search engine results page, and the terrible thing about this is that Google is taking this information from various websites thereby preventing these websites from gaining the traffic that they deserve.
This kind of phenomenon is referred to as a zero click search, and they have been getting more and more common as time passes. Last year, just over fifty percent of searches were zero click searches that started and ended with Google search. This year, the number has gone up to 65%. The truly concerning thing is that this doesn’t include voice searches, and many mobile searches are probably not being included as well.
Google has an incentive to keep users on its own platform. The more users stay on Google properties, the more money Google is going to end up earning. Websites depend on Google, and this is turning into a power dynamic that is benefiting Google at the expense of others. Actions need to be taken to democratize the internet and make it so that pretty much everyone has an equal shot of looking into how they can make the information they provide more prominent all in all.
Read next: Google’s Annual Ad Safety Report Reveals Billions of Blocks, Restrictions and Suspensions
Hence, this essentially means that getting listed on Google is in many ways a mark of reliability and authenticity. Users tend not to trust sites that are not listed on the search engine, and if one looks at this like a mutually beneficial arrangement then there really is nothing wrong with it. After all, Google can help sites that would otherwise have not been found to acquire an audience that is really quite massive.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study from Sparktoro that analyzed trillions of Google searches indicated that 2 out of every 3 search results began and ended with Google. This essentially means that these search results gave users the information that they might have been looking for on Google itself. We have already seen this trend emerge and it has resulted in a lot of sites not getting the same amount of traffic that they used to which is quite dangerous since these sites rely on a heavy amount of traffic to make it so that they can maintain a reasonable level of profitability into the future.
An example of how Google is creating these enclosed loops can be seen with general queries. For example, if you make a query that involves any kind of basic calculation, you will receive the answer on the top of the search results page itself. General knowledge questions also tend to be answered on the search engine results page, and the terrible thing about this is that Google is taking this information from various websites thereby preventing these websites from gaining the traffic that they deserve.
This kind of phenomenon is referred to as a zero click search, and they have been getting more and more common as time passes. Last year, just over fifty percent of searches were zero click searches that started and ended with Google search. This year, the number has gone up to 65%. The truly concerning thing is that this doesn’t include voice searches, and many mobile searches are probably not being included as well.
Google has an incentive to keep users on its own platform. The more users stay on Google properties, the more money Google is going to end up earning. Websites depend on Google, and this is turning into a power dynamic that is benefiting Google at the expense of others. Actions need to be taken to democratize the internet and make it so that pretty much everyone has an equal shot of looking into how they can make the information they provide more prominent all in all.
