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Google “Pepper”: When a Brand Becomes More Popular Than the Meaning of the Word

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Re: Google “Pepper”: When a Brand Becomes More Popular Than the Meaning of the Word

#41

Post by tazjin »

tablespoon wrote: post #37
tazjin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's "think more about" but "want to see that result for this query", those are slightly different things. Given that many people navigate the internet by typing the name of the site they want into Google, this doesn't even seem unlikely if "Pepper" is a popular online shop. That said, in Russia Google shows some very shady looking "discount code" website called Pepper as the first result - which I'm pr…

>> Google's search got gamed by Pepper SEO, the US is not suddenly more more interested in a underwear brand than the food. > I don't think it's "think more about" but "want to see that result for this query", those are slightly different things. That can be true, but I think it's the kind of explanation that has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to believed. Unless you can do that, I think the assumption when a…

Intuitively I found it not that hard to believe that the number of people who just google "pepper" to find something about the fruit or spice is fairly small.

However, a Google Trends query[0] (limited to the USA) indicates that the growth in "pepper" queries is pretty constant (the bra brand apparently launched in 2017). That makes intentional SEO gaming more likely again.

[0]: https://tgsa.tazj.in/img/tazuploads/24/0

Re: Google “Pepper”: When a Brand Becomes More Popular Than the Meaning of the Word

#42

Post by tablespoon »

tazjin wrote: post #41
tablespoon wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Google's search got gamed by Pepper SEO, the US is not suddenly more more interested in a underwear brand than the food. > I don't think it's "think more about" but "want to see that result for this query", those are slightly different things. That can be true, but I think it's the kind of explanation that has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to believed. Unless you can do that, I think the assumption when a…

Intuitively I found it not that hard to believe that the number of people who just google "pepper" to find something about the fruit or spice is fairly small. However, a Google Trends query[0] (limited to the USA) indicates that the growth in "pepper" queries is pretty constant (the bra brand apparently launched in 2017). That makes intentional SEO gaming more likely again. [0]: https://tgsa.tazj.in/img/tazuploads/24…

>> That can be true, but I think it's the kind of explanation that has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to believed. Unless you can do that, I think the assumption when a brand overtakes the generic term should be it's due to a SEO gaming.

> Intuitively I found it not that hard to believe that the number of people who just google "pepper" to find something about the fruit or spice is fairly small.

But that's not anywhere "proven beyond a reasonable doubt," rather it's the very low standard of "I can imagine it maybe being true." You provided good evidence for SEO gaming, but I don't think that was strictly necessary given where I think the burden of proof lies.

In general, I see a lot of thinking that takes "whatever a FAANG does" as an oracle for truth, so spends a lot of effort to justify their results as correct. I think that's wrong (at both the factual and moral levels), and also creates a tolerance for regression, so it should be disputed.

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