‘Self-promoting’ Google becoming ‘destination’ page
Google is favouring its own content within its universal search option, it has been claimed.
Providing a combined search results page with ‘universal’ links from Google News, Images, Maps and all else is turning the search engine into a self-promoting destination page, according to a host of web experts.
James Lamberti, comScore SVP for search and media recently said: "The search result page is beginning to operate as a destination. The consumers are a priority. Not the marketers."
Universal search on Google was claimed by comScore to have been presented about 17 per cent of the time during a week-long period in January 2008, with Google’s own links often at the forefront.
Also present at a recent Search Engine Strategies New York panel discussion was John Battelle, chief executive of Federated Media, who claimed that the acquisition of YouTube and the subsequent use of video overlay ads extended Google’s reach too far.
Mr Battelle questioned the search engine’s neutrality in ranking sites, suggesting that Google Finance was surprisingly outranking Yahoo Finance, deemed a superior site by many.
