Google has a lot of control over the content that you might end up seeing online as well as the websites that you would end up going to. Since it is the single most popular search engine in the world, Google has managed to become a gateway to the internet for a lot of folk, and that gives it a level of power that some are uncomfortable with because it can use this power to show you things that it wants you to see.
Even if Google’s intentions are not malicious outright, their often convoluted and impossible to understand algorithm sometimes results in you seeing some search results that are downright biased. A really good example of this can be seen in recent data that was released by John Shehata, creator of Newzdash. This data has revealed that about 67% of all Google search results are actually duplicates of Top Stories. These are web pages that Google determines are most relevant to your search query.
The fact that these URLs are appearing in both Top Stories as well as in the overall SERP is a bad sign because it indicates that a lot of other web pages that may also be relevant are getting pushed down the rankings. Google is trying to solve this with its new deduplication protocols which will make it so that URLs features in Top Stories won’t be included in the search results in Top Stories is displayed above the results that are being mentioned here in an attempt to make the system more fair for all website owners.
Such a high number of duplicates dramatically reduces the quality of Google’s search engine results, and it makes it impossible for users to get a balanced view about things. It’s great that Google is taking steps to fix this issue, but this does indicate the importance of using a multitude of search engines instead of just relying on one of them. Diversifying the search engines that you use can be an essential way to get a much more balanced view of the topic that you are searching for which is crucial in this age of misinformation and spam.
H/T: John Shehata.
Read next: Windows 11 is coming up with a new update which would include “Preview” for Android Apps
Even if Google’s intentions are not malicious outright, their often convoluted and impossible to understand algorithm sometimes results in you seeing some search results that are downright biased. A really good example of this can be seen in recent data that was released by John Shehata, creator of Newzdash. This data has revealed that about 67% of all Google search results are actually duplicates of Top Stories. These are web pages that Google determines are most relevant to your search query.
The fact that these URLs are appearing in both Top Stories as well as in the overall SERP is a bad sign because it indicates that a lot of other web pages that may also be relevant are getting pushed down the rankings. Google is trying to solve this with its new deduplication protocols which will make it so that URLs features in Top Stories won’t be included in the search results in Top Stories is displayed above the results that are being mentioned here in an attempt to make the system more fair for all website owners.
Such a high number of duplicates dramatically reduces the quality of Google’s search engine results, and it makes it impossible for users to get a balanced view about things. It’s great that Google is taking steps to fix this issue, but this does indicate the importance of using a multitude of search engines instead of just relying on one of them. Diversifying the search engines that you use can be an essential way to get a much more balanced view of the topic that you are searching for which is crucial in this age of misinformation and spam.
H/T: John Shehata.
Read next: Windows 11 is coming up with a new update which would include “Preview” for Android Apps