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Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

mdolon.com

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Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#11

Post by codingdave »

I believe both search and affiliate programs have flaws... but I didn't see anything that convinced me this is some conspiracy between the companies.

I also don't have a problem with affiliate programs. If someone posts links that are relevant to the topic at hand, there is little harm in them getting a few cents from a purchase I would have made anyway. If anything, it is funding content creation in a way that works.

That being said, the point of the article is 100% correct that low-effort, low-value review sites just to get affiliate links ranked in search results are problematic and annoying. I make a judgement call when I run into them - if they really did put in some effort and have decent reviews contrasting different items, I'll go ahead and click the link. They wrote content, the content was helpful, no problem. On the other hand, if it was just a list of links with no added value, I don't click the links. It is just as a easy to do my own search on a product name, or even copy the link and remove the affiliate tag.

Like everything else in the world, nothing is black and white. The presence of some problematic sites doesn't invalidate an entire mechanism for funding content creation.

Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#12

Post by whatch »

scwoodal wrote: post #7

I add “site:reddit.com” to consumer/product related Google searches. This usually gets me the quality information I’m looking for.

Or simply add "Reddit" to your search query. The first result will be from Reddit. And there will be a URL to other results from there.

Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#13

Post by ackbar03 »

prepend wrote: post #10
dazc wrote: post #2

There is little incentive for anyone to curate a list of 'best bikes under $500' for any reason other than this though? However. the fact that you found so many amazon affiliates says more about the integrity of other bike retailers. Why would there not be an even spread of affiliate links to merchants other than amazon do you wonder? Certainty of payment, that's why.

> There is little incentive for anyone to curate a list of 'best bikes under $500' for any reason other than this though? “Back in the olden days” people would write pages because they loved the subject area and wanted to share knowledge/show off/start conversations. So it was very common for people who were just really into bikes to spend some time sharing their thoughts on what the top 10 bikes under $500 were beca…

>There was no monetization, or at least direct monetization

Maybe they can try affiliate links! I think that was how the "crappy" sites used to do it in the old days. I never really understood the whole seo game and if anyone actually made money or just pretended to make money so they can sell courses

Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#15

Post by SilkRoadie »

I would argue that google is being used incorrectly here. Google is specially being asked for a product list which meets a certain criteria. The user is asking Google to recommend the best bikes..

The user is actually looking for authoritative bicycle reviews to make a purchasing decision. Searching for “bicycle reviews” would give a far higher chance of finding what the user is after. They can then use the criteria on the review site to narrow down what they are after.

There is also a limit to what searching will get you. Going to a bike shop will allow an expert in this subject matter to assess your personal requirements and advise accordingly. For a lot of things, going out and talking to someone will yield far better results than Google ever will.

Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#18

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

scwoodal wrote: post #7

I add “site:reddit.com” to consumer/product related Google searches. This usually gets me the quality information I’m looking for.

I guess many people do that, but it shows the review system failed miserably when you look for quality information on reddit. I mean, in theory, reddit would have all kinds of noise and fake opinions, whereas Amazon etc. should have only verified and curated reviews, including methodologies for spotting abuse and procedures for manual verification. Well, the economics of scale that drives them insane profits is also the cause they lost this battle.

Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#19

Post by oftenwrong »

avipars wrote: post #3

I could say that affiliate marketing in general... wirecutter - NYT has a whole site and twitter feed for their "deals" with affiliate links

The Wirecutter has been accused of changing their recommendations based on their ability to monetise product links as an affiliate:

https://www.xdesk.com/wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...

Re: Amazon has ruined search and Google is in on it

#20

Post by r1ch »

whatch wrote: post #12
scwoodal wrote: post #7

I add “site:reddit.com” to consumer/product related Google searches. This usually gets me the quality information I’m looking for.

Or simply add "Reddit" to your search query. The first result will be from Reddit. And there will be a URL to other results from there.

I see more and more queries suggesting autocompletion of "reddit" and similar sites these days. Google's default results are extremely poor quality for many queries.
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