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(Disclaimer: previously worked at Google search) I think some commenters are attributing to Google an ulterior motive, whether ill- or good-intentioned, separa
by yongjik 6y ago
(Disclaimer: previously worked at Google search)
I think some commenters are attributing to Google an ulterior motive, whether ill- or good-intentioned, separate from its core business. But in this case no such motivation is necessary.
Basically, Google wants its users to be satisfied - otherwise it will lose to, say, Bing. So it measures user satisfaction - e.g., if a user clicks on a Google result, and immediately hits back button in three seconds, it's a strong signal that the user was not satisfied. And Google tries very hard to increase this "user satisfaction" (and other similar metrics), because not only does it help Google's business, but it also improves the service itself.
And, guess what? When a page takes fifteen seconds to load, lots of people hits the back (or close) button. Showing such a page is giving the user a bad experience. Unless there's literally no alternatives, it makes sense for Google to "penalize" such a page.
Of course no metric is perfect, so it will occasionally backfire and penalize a great page that takes thirty seconds to load. But that's life.
- freediver 6y agoHow is this helping Google not lose to Bing, when the change would equally improve Bing experience (rising tide rises all boats?).
- dageshi 6y agoGoogle already has market dominance, they lose nothing if things rise equally for both themselves and bing.
- freediver 6y agoThey also do not gain anything. Then why bother?
- cageface 6y agoThey're also competing with native apps. Apple News, as an example.
- Flimm 6y agoNot all websites are going to improve their performance, even with Google's incentive. If Google ranks fast websites better than slow ones, that gives Google an advantage over any competitor that doesn't, as long as slow websites still exist.
- Andrew_Quentin 6y agoAnd it creates monopolies, perfect for gulag control of the people.
- rawoke083600 6y agoGood answer... Out of interest (I understand if you can't answer NDA etc). Taking your example of the back-button (I assume it relates to "dwell time" we keep reading about...) My question is, does this feedback mechanism also include "closing the website" ? I seldom back-button(on desktop) i just use new/close tab.
- yongjik 6y agoI wasn't in the team that gathered those events, so I don't remember the details (and it's probably covered by NDA, as you say), but I guess Google would be gathering these data if there was a reasonable(?) way for them to get it.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Andrew_Quentin 6y agoHow does google know they hit back within three seconds? Oh yeah, monopoly. Break them up.
- ddalex 6y agoYou can easily instrument this server side - cookie and referrer is enough to track a single hop journey
- Andrew_Quentin 6y agoAnd Google Analytics right? The 'free' product.