There have been a lot of complaints about the quality of Google search results – the truth is, there are always complaints. Assuming you believe the results are indeed getting worse (which not everyone would agree with), is Google to blame, or is it the fault of the web in general to blame?
A lot of this stems from the Freakonomics podcast show named Is Google Getting Worse? where they asked Marissa Mayer, the 20th Google employee, and the former CEO of Yahoo, if it is the web or Google. She said it is the web and Google is just presenting what is on the web.
We covered this at Search Engine Land some time ago, Marissa said:
When you see the quality of your search results go down, it’s natural to blame Google and be like, Why are they worse? To me, the more interesting and sophisticated thought is if you say, Wait, but Google’s just a window onto the web. The real question is, why is the web getting worse?
So Greg Sterling asked his followers, I retweeted it, “Is Google getting worse or is the web itself declining in quality?” It showed that SEOs are really mixed in blaming Google or the web.
Here is that poll:
Is Google getting worse or is the web itself declining in quality?
— Greg Sterling 🇺🇦 (@gsterling) December 5, 2022
If you ask Google, Google will say they are way better than they were and that the question is probably flawed. Google would not say it cannot improve, Google is the first to say there are always ways to improve. But comparing Google today to ten years ago, I think Google would say it is better, not worse.
That being said, have a listen to the podcast.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
