Lately, users have been worried about some of Google’s search results. These results could be unsafe and not as good as they used to be. Danny Sullivan from Google said they know about these problems and are working to fix them.
A while ago, Hyung-Jin Kim from Google talked about how important it is for search results to be safe. He shared a story about a family members health issue and how it inspired Google to make sure their search results don’t lead to harmful information.
This led to a new rule called EEAT to make sure the information is safe and trustworthy.
Image: DIW-AIgen
But, more and more people are complaining about finding risky results, especially from Reddit, which appears more often in searches now. Google says it’s trying to guess what people need before they ask, but sometimes this means risky information comes up first.
Sullivan thanked everyone and said they are taking it seriously. Google wants to make sure all the information they show is safe and relevant. They keep trying to make their system better, but problems are persistent.
For instance, when people look for legal advice, Google sometimes shows old forum posts instead of answers from reliable sources like the American Bar Association. This makes people wonder if the results are good enough.
Some people also say that university websites are getting hurt by Google’s search rules, maybe because of spammers or hackers. Google is still committed to producing better content, but changes are slow.
That unit appears automatically if the systems think it might be relevant and useful. I’s not like someone said “put it first for that particular query” — which I know you understand, but others reading this might not. That said, I can appreciate the concern and issue, and I’ve…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) April 3, 2024
I did understand that point and concern. I didn’t say “because users all seem to like something, we show it regardless of relevancy.” But let me take a swing at some of those points again:
1) We want to ensure that *any* content we show in results — including forum content –…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) April 3, 2024
I sort of thought this:
“As with any change to our ranking systems, nothing is perfect. There will be issues that come up, as I talked about in the past: https://t.co/urIBxL3gcQ… So our goal will be to keep improving things forward, and constructive feedback like this is…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) April 4, 2024
That’s not what I said. I said we show forum content *at times* because users can find forum content to be useful, which is a fairly reasonable thing. People do find forum content useful.
That doesn’t mean it’s always useful, which is also why we don’t always show forum content.…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) April 4, 2024
Great to know that Reddit, Quora, and a 3-year-old Avvo thread are “better” results for this legal query than the American Bar Association 🤦♀️
Makes it even better that the top answer on one of the Reddit threads is from someone with an 18+ profile with some answers so gross I… pic.twitter.com/5x4DR5T4CZ
— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) April 8, 2024
Uhhh Are Google & Reddits On The Outs? pic.twitter.com/iDokBFKLVS
— Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) April 10, 2024
Example of unhelpful results pic.twitter.com/uiycU8xIPh
— AI Digital Marketing (@AiDigitalMktg) April 8, 2024
I analysed the top-ranking sites for 1,000 health symptom keywords — many covering serious concerns.
The most prominent domain Google ranks is Mayoclinic.
The second most prominent is Quora, where it’s easy to find spammed, copied or AI-generated medical advice.
For instance,… pic.twitter.com/SbFaG6gEud
— Glen Allsopp 👾 (@ViperChill) April 11, 2024
Read next: The Price of Internet in America is Increasing with New Jersey Paying the Highest Price