Google Tweak Creates Crisis for Product-Review Sites (wsj.com) 22
Google changed its rules around how product-review sites appear in its search engine. In the process, it devastated a once-lucrative corner [non-paywalled source] of the news media world. From a report: Sites including CNN Underscored and Forbes Vetted offer tips on everything from mattresses and knife sets to savings accounts, making money when users click on links and buy products.
They depend on Google to drive much of their traffic, and therefore revenue. But over the past year, Google created stricter rules that dinged certain sites that farm out articles to freelancers, among other things. The goal, Google has said, was to give users higher-quality search results. The outcome was a crisis for some sites. Traffic for Forbes Advisor, a personal-finance recommendation site, fell 83% in January from the same month the year before, according to data firm Similarweb.
CNN Underscored and Buy Side from WSJ, which is operated by Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones, were both down by more than 25% in that period. Time magazine's Time Stamped and the Associated Press's AP Buyline, powered by Taboola Turnkey Commerce, ended their efforts in recent months. Taboola closed the commerce operation.
They depend on Google to drive much of their traffic, and therefore revenue. But over the past year, Google created stricter rules that dinged certain sites that farm out articles to freelancers, among other things. The goal, Google has said, was to give users higher-quality search results. The outcome was a crisis for some sites. Traffic for Forbes Advisor, a personal-finance recommendation site, fell 83% in January from the same month the year before, according to data firm Similarweb.
CNN Underscored and Buy Side from WSJ, which is operated by Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones, were both down by more than 25% in that period. Time magazine's Time Stamped and the Associated Press's AP Buyline, powered by Taboola Turnkey Commerce, ended their efforts in recent months. Taboola closed the commerce operation.
And nothing of value was lost (Score:3)
CNN Underscored reviews are barely-disguised infomercials. I don't know anything about Buy Side, but I suspect it's no better. "Review Sites" aren't what they used to be. I applaud Google's change.
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Yes, and a CNN *advertising* product to boot!
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We should have rsilvergun weigh in on this because I don't think they watch CNN.
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Won't somebody think of the AI generated review mills!
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True... But about 8 years ago I did a lot of on-line research into microwaves, including a Consumer Reports subscription. I found the CR top rated brand also had a clear history of catching fire. And I also read their reviews of various computers, a topic where I know enough to have an independent opinion. Again their reviews didn't match my knowledge/experience. That pretty much eliminated my faith in the value (for the cost) of CR reviews. Thus these days I go for 'quantity', looking for trends across
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I stopped trusting CR many years ago based on a car review. They significantly downgraded what was generally accepted as a great car because the hatchback didn't open high enough, and somebody might hit their head on the corner of it. Yes, it's a valid point. Making it a significant factor not to recommend the car was ridiculous.
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I have similar experiences with CR reviews on products I know about. CR tends to miss key failures and features. Reviews by anyone are only useful if they point out something you missed, good or bad. Usually more helpful if bad.
This seems like a benefit (Score:2)
Re: This seems like a benefit (Score:2)
No, they just don't want to facilitate other companies pushing crap. They want to have monopoly on crap that reaches end users.
Mission accomplished (Score:2)
Google wanted to improve search results for users.
who gives a fsuck (Score:2)
Nobody sane buys from sites advertised on or through Google or anything else "click" related. We all do our best to avoid these. Also anything in the search results listed as "Sponsored" is simply ignored now.
Nothing to see, move along, break it up (Score:1)
Remember classified ads in the newspaper? Or the Sunday Parade section that was full of suspiciously "new products". This is just the webs version of it. Why shouldn't CNN be entitled to the same option?
So, lets get real, this is Google attacking an ad competitor.
LoL! (Score:2)
The goal, Google has said, was to give users higher-quality search results
LoL! "Google" and "quality search results" are now mutually exclusive. Have been for a long time.
If they cared... (Score:2)
If they cared about "high-quality" they would have ditched Yelp years ago.
Good riddance (Score:3)
Great move by google (Score:1)
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"consumer positive" ONLY to the degree you trust Google to make the "right" decisions about which sites they promote/demote. With only 2 actual data sets (Google and Bing), it's increasingly likely that ALL internet searches are "mediated" (the polite word, "censored" would be equally accurate) by either Google or Microsoft.
good (Score:1)
Wait, there's more? (Score:2)
It wasn't long ago I couldn't find more than 8 different reviews for very popular products. So the rest were copies, transliterations, or facsimiles.
Besides, many reviews are just written by someone butthurt because they didn't read the quick start.