May 19th, 2010 | 
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A recent survey announced that 89% of people at large trust search engine results. Why shouldn’t they? Almost everyone who has turned Google into a verb has at some time or another and usually often used the big G to solve a problem or answer a question. For business research search engines are quick and easy. For school work they have replaced the library. We trust search engines like Bing and Google because they have empowered us with useful knowledge at zero cost.
On a commercial basis search engines have also been of great assistance. We can review any product new or old and manage to avoid some truly bad buying experiences. Website reviews as found on search engines help us do everything from hire a plumber to go to the movies. Search engines now going on 15 years of steady use by the public have been proven to be honest and helpful.
That could quickly change. If major search engines were to start to sneak paid ads from seemingly independent parties into their results we may quickly lower our level of trust. When one does research on global warming, they don’t want to be pitched to buy a solar powered boiler.
Facebook claims to be above this sort of switcharoo. But they are getting pretty chummy with Microsoft (cough!)/Bing. On the plus side if Google and Bing do expand the influence of their partner websites within the confines of organic search, it will open up the venue for newer, more targeted educational engines.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: Boiler, Commercial Basis, Cough, Global Warming, Google, Major Search Engines, Plumber, Venue