First, Let Us Kill the Websites and Then Brainwash Everyone
September 18, 2026
Here’s something that is very upsetting for independent websites that comes from House Fresh: “How Google Is Killing Independent Sites Like Ours.” House Fresh prides itself on publishing articles written by humans and making editorial decisions that its readers will find useful. Google is supposed to reward websites like House Fresh, instead the search engine is rewarding big publishers and pushing independent websites further down in search results.
Most of these publishers are copying information about products from Amazon without actually testing products. Big media is polluting search results, cluttering up the system, and making information less trustworthy.
“Savvy SEOs at big media publishers (or third-party vendors hired by them) realized that they could create pages for ‘best of’ product recommendations without the need to invest any time or effort in actually testing and reviewing the products first. So, they peppered their pages with references to a ‘rigorous testing process,’ their ‘lab team,’ subject matter experts ‘they collaborated with,’ and complicated methodologies that seem impressive at a cursory look. Sometimes, they even added photos of ‘tests’ with products covered in Post-it notes, someone holding a tape measure, and people with very ‘scientific’ clipboards.”
House Fresh deep dives into how products aren’t really tested and the big publishers are doing the bare minimum to deliver “true” results to readers. The big publishers only care about their bottom dollar and maintaining relevancy in Google search results. I learned:
“Private equity firms are utilizing public trust in long-standing publications to sell every product under the sun. In a bid to replace falling ad revenue, publishing houses are selling their publications for parts to media groups that are quick to establish affiliate marketing deals.”
Toi whom does one turn to obtain unbiased, verifiable information. Librarians, do you have some suggestions.
Whitney Grace, September 18, 2026
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