The quality of Google's search engine results is “deteriorating” due to the prevalence of spam, according to a German study.
The findings were based on 7,392 product review queries such as “best headphones” and “best alphabet toys” on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo, according to experts from Leipzig University, Bauhaus University Weimar and the center. It is said to be based on a one-year analysis of For scalable data analytics and artificial intelligence.
“Search engines are indeed intervening, and ranking updates, especially from Google, have shown to have a temporary positive effect. However, search engines seem to have lost the cat-and-mouse game of SEO spam.” The study said that.
Experts said product reviews are an ideal test because they are “particularly vulnerable to affiliate marketing because of the inherent conflicts of interest between users, search providers, and content providers.”
Analysis finds that Google and other search engines have “significant issues with highly optimized (affiliate) content” that attracts the attention of unsuspecting users despite being of poor quality. It became clear. Spam results were more common on search engines than the underlying trend across the Internet.
Although Google has “made some improvements” over the course of their investigation, the researchers found that they “still were able to find some spam domains, and there was an overall downward trend in text quality across all three search engines.” was also confirmed.”
“We are also seeing an increasingly blurred line between benign content and spam in the form of content and link farms. It will get worse,” the researchers said.
First reported by 404 Media About research.
A Google spokesperson denied the findings.
“This particular study is a narrow look at the content of product reviews and does not reflect the overall quality and usefulness of search for the billions of queries we see every day.” a representative said in a statement.
“We have embarked on concrete improvements to address these issues, and the study itself shows that Google has improved over the past year and is outperforming other search engines. ”, the statement added. “More broadly, a number of third parties have measured search engine results for other types of queries and found that Google has significantly higher quality than the others.”
Microsoft and DuckDuckGo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a blog post last February, Google highlighted its efforts to crack down on spam in search results, but also defended its use of automation in content creation.
“It is important to recognize that not all use of automation, including AI generation, is spam.” The blog post said:.
Google controls approximately 90% of the online search market. The Justice Department accused the Big Tech giant of maintaining an illegal monopoly. A federal judge is expected to issue the first ruling in the landmark case later this year.
Elsewhere, both Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI have come under intense scrutiny for using copyrighted material to train their advanced AI models. In December, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, seeking billions of dollars in damages.
