Google: Grade A Search Baloney
March 31, 2022
I have been involved in online information for more than 50 years. Yep, folks, That’s more than half a century. Those early days involved using big clunky computers to locate a word in a Latin corpus. Then there were the glory days of commercial online products like Business Dateline, the Health Reference Center, and others. The Internet was a source of online craziness that trumped the wackiness of Ev Brenner and his vision for petrochemical data. Against this richly colored tapestry of marketing fabrications, overpromising and under delivering, and the bizarre fantasies of the “old” Information Industry Association I read “Google Search Is Actually Getting Better at Giving You What You Need.”
The write up channels a marketing person at the Google and mixes the search wizard’s recycling of Google truisms with some pretty crazy assertions about finding information in 2022.
Let’s take a look at three points and then step back and put these online advertising charged assertions in a broader context; namely, of the outcomes of a a system which is a de facto information monopoly.
Here are the points I noted in the write up:
Big, baby, big.
The first idea is that Google processes a great deal of information. Plus, Google tests to tackle the challenge of “search quality.” By the way, what does “quality” mean? What happens when you combine big with quality, you get really good outputs from the Google system. Just try it. Do a search for pizza via Google on a mobile device. See what you get? Pizza information. Perfect. So big and quality means good. Do you buy that?
The second idea is that Google like little beavers or little Googzillas works to improve quality. The idea is that yesterday’s Google was not bad; it needs improvement. Many improvements mean that quality goes up. Okay, let’s try it. Say you want information about a loss of coolant accident. You know. Chernobyl, Fukashima, et al. Type in loca and you get Shakira’s video. Type in “nuclear loca” and you get links to a loss of coolant accident. Type in site:nrc.gov loca and you get results specific to a loss of coolant incident. Note what’s needed to get Google to produce something about loss of coolant accident. The user must specify a context; otherwise, Google delivers lowest common denominator results. One can use Google Dorks to work about the Shakira problem, but let’s face it, very few people are into Google Dorks. (I include them in my OSINT lecture at the National Cyber Crime Conference in April 2022, but I know from experience that not even trained investigators are into Google Dorks.)
The third idea is that Google is embracing artificial intelligence. That makes sense because there are not enough people to process today’s flows of information in the old fashioned subject matter expert way. One must reduce costs in order to deliver “quality.” Does that seem an unusual pairing of improvements and search results? Think about it, please.
Now let’s step back. Here are some observations I jotted on a 4×6 notecard:
- Google uses people looking for online information to generate revenue from ads. That which produces more ad revenue is valued. The “quality” is a repurposing of a useful concept to the need to generate revenue. Shakira is the correct result for the “loca” query. That’s quality.
- The notion of testing is interesting. What’s the objective? The answer is generating revenue. Thus, the notion of testing is little more than steering or tuning search results to generate more revenue. The adjustments operate on several levels: Shaping understanding via filtering and producing revenue from search results. Simple, just not exactly what a user of an ad supported system thinks about when running a query for pizza.
- Smart software is the number one way for Google to [a] reduce costs, [b] deflect legal challenges to its search result shaping with the statement “The algorithm does, not a human”; and [c] create the illusion that Google search results are really smart. Use Google and you will be smarter too.
Believe these assertions? You’re the ideal Google user. Have doubts? You are not Googley. Don’t apply for a job at the Google and for heaven’s sake, don’t expect the Google outputs to be objective, just accept that some information is unfindable by design.
Google Dorks exist for a reason? Google has made finding relevant information more difficult than at any time in my professional career. And every year, the Google system becomes more detached from what most people believe fuels Google’s responses to what Google users need.
Yep, need. Sell ads. Reduce costs. Generate feedback into the system from user’s who have biases. Why are government agencies pushing back on outfits like Google? The quest for qualilty? Nope. The pushback reflects a growing awareness of disinformation, manipulation, and behavior that stifles options in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, March 31, 2022
TikTok: Search and Advertising
March 29, 2022
If life were not tricky enough for Amazon, Facebook, and Google, excitement is racing down the information highway. I read “TikTok Search Ads Tool Is Being Tested Out.” I learned:
This week, the famous short video application began beta testing for TikTok search ads in search results, allowing marketers to reach the audience utilizing the keywords they use.
Yep, a test, complete with sponsored listings at the top of the search result page.
Will this have an impact on most adults over the age of 65? The answer in my opinion, “Is not right away, but down the road, oh, baby, yes.”
Let’s think about the Big Boys:
- Amazon gets many clicks from its product search. The Google once dominated this function, but the Bezos bulldozer has been grinding away.
- Facebook or as I like to call it “zuckbook.” The combined social empire of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp has quite a bit of product information. Don’t you follow Soph Mosca’s fashion snaps on Instagram? Will TikTok search offer a better experience with search, ads, and those nifty videos? Yep.
- And Google. Now the GOOG faces competition for product search ads from the China linked TikTok. How will the company respond? Publish a book on managing a diverse work force or put out a news release about quantum supremacy.
The write up explains that the ads, the search angle, and the experience is in beta. Will TikTok sell ads? Okay, let me think. Wow. Tough question. My answer, “Does President Gi take an interest in the Internet?”
The write up includes a link to a Twitter post which shows the beta format. You can view it at this link.
I want to point out that TikTok is a useful source of open source intelligence, captures information of interest to those who want to pinpoint susceptible individuals, and generates high value data about users interested in a specific type of content and the creators of that content.
Now TikTok will be on the agenda of meetings at three of the world’s most loved companies. Yep, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Who loves these outfits the most? Advertisers!
Stephen E Arnold, March 29, 2022
Google: Managing with Flair
March 24, 2022
I had forgotten there was a Google employee survey. I read “Googlegeist Survey Reveals That Google Workers Are Increasingly Unhappy about Compensation, Promotion, and More.” Unhappy employees suggest that the Google zeitgeist is out of joint if the information in the write up is accurate.
I noted this passage:
In the latest Googlegeist or the annual Google survey, the company noticed that there was a growing trend of “increasingly unhappy” workers over compensation and other key issues.
How could those admitted to the Walt Disney Wonderland of technology and doing good be unhappy? How could the senior managers craft an artificial environment at odds with the needs of humanoids?
Is there a silver lining to the clouds hanging over the Google? Yes. I learned:
The survey which took place two months ago, yielded the most desirable results when it comes to advertisements, cloud, and searches. Moreover, the highest score came from the values and mission of the company. However, it should be noted that the lowest remark tackled the context of execution and compensation on the part of the labor force.
And how did the management of the firm respond? According to the write up:
Addressing the survey results is considered to be “one of the most important ways” for evaluation, as CEO Sundar Pichai said during an announcement via email. This would help the company assess the willingness and desirability of the workers to work inside the firm.
There you go. Management insight. Be happy or begone.
Stephen E Arnold, March 24, 2022
Google: Cheeseburgers, Fried Rice, and Gluten Free Pizza Cravings?
March 24, 2022
I have no idea if the write up in Ars Technica is accurate. The story is called “Google Hijacked Millions of Customers and Orders from Restaurants, Lawsuit Says.” The article does not use the word “predatory” or any other metaphorically rich language. The focus is that something called Left Field Holdings which operates Mexican restaurants has alleged that the Google is in the bait-and-switch game.
The idea is that Google allows an order online function. A restaurant creates a Google business profile and has the option to allow ordering from the Google page. But what if the restaurant doesn’t sign up. The lawsuit, based on the information in the article, activates the function.
Here’s the passage I find fascinating:
It’s not clear when The Ordering App or the “Order Online” button changed tack or if it ever did—there’s very little information about the acquisition or the product that’s public—but the lawsuit alleges that at some point Google decided to market it to food delivery companies instead of restaurants.
Gee, I wonder if a developer implemented a feature in order to get a bonus or qualify for a position upgrade?
Here’s another interesting passage in the write up:
f restaurants haven’t completed the setup, Google appears to create a page anyway. It’s unclear how that happens, though it’s possible that a restaurant’s appearance in a delivery app is what triggers it. That isn’t always a sign of a business relationship between the restaurant and food delivery company, though. Many food delivery companies have been sued for adding restaurants without their consent.
Like Google’s new buy a car or other click here and Mother Google will make your life easier functions, is it possible that years of zero regulatory oversight and a “hey, we’re Google and we can do anything, even solve death” mentality is at work.
We love the Google and know that none of its management team, with skills honed in high school science clubs, would play fast and loose, get commissions, and abuse outfits which don’t spend big bucks for Google advertising.
Our ethically minded Google could not behave in this manner. We are believers in the one true way for online behavior. Aren’t you? Obviously the owners of the Mexican restaurants are unlikely to be deemed Googley.
And if you are not Googley, exactly what are you? Do you even exist?
Stephen E Arnold, March 24, 2022
Google and Microsoft: Are Your Wizards Really Innovating Again?
March 23, 2022
I scanned my headlines this morning and noted two different companies which have revealed their latest innovations. These are big outfits, and one expects each company to come up with big plays. Little plays won’t move the revenue needle, and money is important to these estimable enterprises.
What’s Google’s most recent innovation? I think it is ad supported video streaming of 4,000 old TV shows and about 1,500 old movies. “YouTube Makes Thousands of TV Show Episodes Available to Stream for Free” reports:
For the first time, YouTube is letting users in the US stream thousands of free, ad-supported TV shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Heartland and Unsolved Mysteries, it announced. That will put it into competition with OTA (over-the-air) TV and streaming services with ad tiers including Peacock, the Roku Channel, Tubi and others.
To me, Google’s “play” is a me too, not a “first time.”
What’s Microsoft’s most recent Eureka! moment? “Microsoft Looks Poised to Dominate the Quantum Computing Industry” states:
Microsoft Azure recently announced that its quantum computing research teams had invented “a new kind of qubit” based on elusive, never-before-demonstrated properties of physics. According to the Redmond company, this will allow it to build scalable quantum computers capable of solving the hardest problems facing humanity.
Hopefully Microsoft’s quantum efforts have not pulled resources from the company’s security initiatives.
For me, the Google announcement is another step in a long, somewhat confused video journey. The channeling of Peacock and Roku is interesting. Instead of confronting TikTok, Google wants to take on incumbents recycling old content. YouTube’s new content initiatives did not achieve orbital velocity in my opinion. There’s content on YouTube, but it is non directed. TikTok takes a different approach. Old TV shows are not a response to a competitive challenge.
The Microsoft quantum play is another attempt to demonstrate that Microsoft has something really big up its sleeve. Years ago, Microsoft was into search and contact lenses that worked like Google Glass. Now the future is quantum computing, and it is like general artificial intelligence going to be the next big thing after Teams I suppose.
Stepping back, these two “innovations” illustrate the me-too approach to generating excitement, appeasing stakeholders, and capturing mindshare. Am I quivering with excitement yet? Nope. Marketing and PR are bummers for me.
Stephen E Arnold, March 23, 2022
Google: Admitting What It Does Now That People Believe Google Is the Holy Grail of Information
March 21, 2022
About 25 years. That’s how long it took Google to admit that it divides the world into bluebirds, canaries, sparrows, and dead ducks. Are we talking about our feathered friends? Nope. We are dividing the publicly accessible Web sites into four categories. Note: These are my research team’s classifications:
Bluebirds — Web sites indexed in sort of almost real time. Example: whitehouse.gov and sites which pull big ad sales
Canaries — Web sites that are popular but indexed in a more relaxed manner. Example: Sites which pull ad money but not at the brand level
Sparrows — Web sites that people look at but pull less lucrative ads. Example: Your site, probably?
Dead ducks — Sites banned, down checked for “quality”, or sites which use Google’s banned words. Example: You will have to use non Google search systems to locate these resources. Example: Drug ads which generate money and kick up unwanted scrutiny from some busy bodies.
“Google Says ‘Discovered – Currently Not Indexed’ Status Can Last Forever” explains:
‘Discovered – Currently not indexed’ in the Google Search Console Index Coverage report can potentially last forever, as the search engine doesn’t index every page.
The article adds:
Google doesn’t make any guarantees to crawl and index every webpage. Even though Google is one of the biggest companies in the world, it has finite resources when it comes to computing power.
Monopoly power? Now that Google dominates search it can decide what can be found for billions of people.
This is a great thing for the Google. For others, perhaps not quite the benefit the clueless user expects?
If something cannot be found in the Google Web search index, that something does not exist for lots of people. After 25 years and information control, the Google spills the beans about dead ducks.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2022
The Google: More Personnel Excitement? Of Course!
March 19, 2022
Google has quite a few bright employees. In my experience, the current crop is delivering stubbier ears of corn than the 2002 digital farmers produced. But that’s just my opinion, of course. “Google Is Accused in Lawsuit of Systemic Bias Against Black Employees” reports:
Google maintains a “racially biased corporate culture” that favors white men, where Black people comprise only 4.4% of employees and about 3% of leadership and its technology workforce.
After the employee push back and the spectacular Dr. Timnit Gebru matter, Google has demonstrated that it at age 20 may have the equivalent of corporate Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. The confusion and shaking of Googzilla’s left foreleg may be signals, important signals.
The plaintiff is The plaintiff, April Curley. The write up adds:
Curley said Google hired her in 2014 to design an outreach program to historically Black colleges. She said her hiring proved to be a “marketing ploy,” as supervisors began denigrating her work, stereotyping her as an “angry” Black woman and passing her over for promotions. Curley said Google fired her in September 2020 after she and her colleagues began working on a list of desired reforms.
Google’s legal eagles will attempt to explain this away, probably proving that Ms. Curley is not a high school science club type.
But what about Dr. Gebru? Yeah, that may be an anomaly because …. Gentle reader, you fill in the reason.
Stephen E Arnold, March 19, 2022
Google Cloud: A Marketing Challenge
March 15, 2022
I read a report which I think is assembled by a human or two working with smart software. What’s interesting is the observation about Google Cloud expressed in “Google-cloud Is About to Get More Expensive.” [Note: Links to content on Dailyhunt often result in 404s. There’s not much I can do about this run-and-gun news source, folks.]
I noted this passage:
At present, Google – and Google Cloud particularly – suffers from the perception that it will close down services randomly, despite the fact that its users rely upon them. Now, add to that the insight that it will arbitrarily raise its costs and its sales team will probably need to work overtime to satisfy the aggressive development objectives the company has surely set for itself.
There’s been some additional chatter about Google modifying the cloud storage deals for certain academic institutions.
Is this a PR challenge or clever management of the users who make the Google system hum like a well fed Googzilla?
Stephen E Arnold, March 15, 2022
Google and Mandiant: Will Google Be Able to Handle a People Business?
March 11, 2022
Talk about Google’s purchasing Mandiant is a hot topic. I want to comment about Protocol’s article “Google Wants to Be the Full-Service Security Cloud.” The write up is one of several mentioning an important fact:
The company currently has 2,200 employees, including 600 consultants and 300 intelligence analysts who respond to security breaches.
Mandiant, therefore, has about half of its employees performing consultant type work. Not long ago, Google benefited from the sale of Recorded Future, a company which was in the cyber security business AND had a capability that Google had not previously possessed. What was Recorded Future’s magic ingredient? My answer is, “Ability to index by time.” There were other Recorded Future capabilities. In-Q-Tel found the company interesting as well.
Now the Google is embracing the consultative business in which Mandiant has done well. How will the Google management method apply to the individuals who make up about half the Mandiant work force?
If the past is an indication, Google does okay when the staff are like Google’s previous and current management. Google does less well when the professionals are less like those high school science club members who climbed the ladder at the Google.
To sum up: This deal is going to be interesting to watch. Microsoft is likely to be keen on following the tie up. Mandiant is, as you may recall, the outfit which blew the whistle on the SolarWinds’ misstep. Microsoft was snagged in the subsequent forensic analyses. Plus, the cyber security industry is enjoying some favorable winds. The issue, however, is that as threats become breaches, the flaws of the present approach to cyber security become more obvious. Online advertising, cloud computing, and cyber security — a delightful concoction or a volatile mix?
Stephen E Arnold, March 11, 2022
Google Shown to Rewrite Over Half of those Carefully Crafted Title Tags
March 11, 2022
Apparently Google is taking liberties with one of search engine optimizations’ favorite tools. SEO software vendor Zyppy shares its own recent research in the blog post, “Study Shows Google Rewriting 61% of Title Tags.” Writer Cyrus Shepard tells us:
“Like most Google ranking signals, titles play only a small part in the overall algorithm. But because they are typically the first things users see in Google results, titles can have a large impact on click-through rates and the number of visits your site ultimately receives. Traditionally, Google used title tags to generate the page title in its search results. Over the years, it wasn’t uncommon to see Google make small changes to the title—typically because of length or relevancy—but these changes were mostly minor. More recently, Google became much more aggressive with title rewriting, incorporating additional HTML tags and generally rewriting far more titles than previously. Many site owners find that the titles they carefully craft almost all get rewritten. Fortunately, here at Zyppy, we have a large database of titles thanks to our title tag analysis tool. Armed with this data, we set out to determine how often Google rewrites titles and the scenarios which trigger this behavior.”
They study checked out 80,959 title tags across 2370 websites and found Google had rewritten 61.6% of them. Shepard notes the findings generally concur with those of two previous studies. He explores factors that affect whether Google is likely to meddle with one’s title: character length, brackets vs. parentheses, and title separators. Curious readers can navigate to the write-up for those details. What is an SEO tagger to do? The write-up recommends matching one’s title to the H1 (main heading) tag—the researchers found doing so dramatically reduced the chance of a Googley rewrite. Naturally, the post concludes by recommending and linking to Zyppy’s own title optimization tool. So helpful because it makes ad matching so much “better.”
Cynthia Murrell, March 11, 2022
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