Google’s Search Practices go Under the Microscope

Do you find that when you use a search engine that all of the results come from a single source or are favoured from a particular review site? Well, that’s what Tim Wu, Columbia Law School Professor, has set to prove in his latest research paper.

What Wu has aimed to achieve is that whenever you use Google based search engines, the results given are curved relating to Google+ reviews and information. In some ways this is great, however, you are not receiving the full spectrum of truth (or lies) from the rest of the internet.

By testing each term twice, once in Google’s Universal search and another by using a plug-in called Focus On the Users; Wu was able to retrieve the information that he was looking for. The additional plug-in can utilise the original search engine algorithm without the additional information from Google+.

As you can see from the results, the same search had two very different yields.

Generally papers like this wouldn’t carry much weight, however, Wu was a Google and net neutrality proponent. If you wish to read the entire paper, here is the 46 page embedded version for you.

I personally never look at the Google suggested reviews whenever I look for information, I use dedicated websites and forums. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.

Thank you to ZDNet for providing us with this information.