In the present age of digitization, a team of researchers from Germany has reported that search engines are inundated with spam content, causing challenges for many internet users seeking valuable information online—the fundamental purpose of the internet.
The researchers embarked on a study focused on product reviews providing tests and purchase recommendations. Over the course of nearly a year, they meticulously examined around 7400 queries on three prominent search engines: Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
Their primary discovery highlighted “significant problems” within search engines related to affiliate links. Despite the relatively limited prevalence of product reviews containing affiliate links, the researchers noted an overrepresentation of these reviews in search engine results.
The core issue with affiliate links, according to one researcher, lies in their erosion of trust. The researcher observed that users inherently trust their search engines, and this trust is inadvertently transferred to affiliates due to their high rankings. However, this dynamic also gives rise to conflicts among affiliates, search providers, and users, as affiliates may prioritize web page design for better rankings over investing in high-quality products.
Webpages laden with affiliate links and optimization tend to dominate search results on average, while also exhibiting signs of lower text quality, as highlighted by an author.
In the face of the increasing influx of AI-generated content on the internet, the author predicts a worsening of search engine results. However, the article notes that specific improvements have been implemented to address these issues. The study acknowledges Google’s progress over the past year, indicating superior performance compared to other search engines.
Furthermore, the researchers acknowledge the role of affiliate marketing in shaping the current landscape of online content. While pointing out that completely eliminating affiliate marketing might not be advisable, they recognize its importance for many legitimate websites that depend on it.