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Sufficiently targeted ads are indistinguishable from honest search results: that is, if Google gives me the perfect result then I don't care what money changes
by waqf 10y ago
Sufficiently targeted ads are indistinguishable from honest search results: that is, if Google gives me the perfect result then I don't care what money changes hands behind the scenes (although yes, I do still care what's being done with my personal data to achieve that).
- ferentchak 10y agoThere is a main difference. Instead of sorting those results on the best fit for what I am looking for they are sorting them based upon the highest bidder. You are right that sometimes these results are similar but these days when I ask Google a question about products I pretty much only get to know about the ones that were willing to pay Google to inform me of them. Great for Google but only ok for me and the product company.
- euyyn 10y agoWait, you always get organic results, no?
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 10y agoYou have it all backwards. If the money that changes hands doesn't influence the search result, then the money won't change hands. An advertisement customer won't pay in order to not influence what the audience gets to see. Also, the theoretical possibility that money doesn't necessarily influence decisions is not exactly a good reason to accept the risk that it does after all. If that were a sensible argument, you could just throw out all anti-corruption legislation, because it is very much theoretically possible for a bribed person to still make a decision that's not influenced by the bribery.