Google search has always been know for its impartial rankings. Infact, you can find hundreds and thousands of instances on the web where, Google employees have clearly mentioned that Google search engine results cannot be altered manually in any way. All the rankings are algorithmic, and completely automated.
However, in a small experiment run by Ben Edelman, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, it came to forth that Google’s search results were not quite as they seemed.
Prof Edelmen used a comma test search tool to see the real results beneath Google’s altered ones and came to realise that Google’s own sites were been given higher placement than the organic search results really showed.
Normal Google Results for Cisco symbol “CSCO”
Google Results for Cisco symbol “CSCO” after putting Comma
The above experiment depicts that after putting the comma, the results changed to a large extent. The results which showed after putting the comma should have been the normal organically showed results in the first place.
The adjusted search results give Google a huge advantage. While Yahoo Finance is a far more popular and trafficked site as compared to Google Finance, organically shown results gave far more advantage to Google sites.
Prof Edelmen also gave examples for keywords like “ACNE”, where Google health got more priority although, it is not the most popular site for that term. Although, I must say this is not a fool-proof theory, it is a compelling evidence that Google is tampering with search results for their own advantage.
Would love to hear your comments on this!