And why you shouldn’t trust product reviews from big media publishers ranking at the top of Google.
  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    It’s been said before: Google does not find you the best result for your query. Google finds you the result that makes them the most money from AdSense and has words from your query.

    If Mozilla wasn’t funded by Google, the best thing they could do is include a helpful/unhelpful ranking for websites, then filter Google results by that. Search should be social, not commercial.

    • AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      Search should be social, not commercial.

      this would be gamed by companies in the same way social media is used to advertise businesses.

  • ferralcat@monyet.ccEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I have no idea about air purifiers, but Meredith (and better homes and gardens DO have a test kitchen in Des Moines and I wouldn’t be surprised if they test other stuff there. My dad worked there and as a kid we got to come through a and try out recipes they were thinking of publishing sometimes.

    But ANY site running these review articles at this point, be it for hotels or air purifiers or food kr *30 under 30" lists, are all just paid shills. I don’t really have any reason to think “housefresh” is any different either. I don’t even really trust consumer reports at this point after seeing them shill really shitty products a few times. Maybe ifixit is ok?

    Go to Amazon and filter by one star, then try to ignore the crazys.

    • AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      There is a dodgy car rental brand in australia, nz, usa and canada that i had used, and exclusively markets to overseas tourists, but not locals - presumably because locals would know that they should not rent a car that failed the technical inspection and is illegal to drive, which to the surprise of nobody happens a lot with cheap, 20 year old rental cars. It’s very hard to find organic customer reviews of the company, because their own SEO drowns out any authentic customer voices:

      • Their links come from “paid blog posts” (they pay the blogger to write some fluff piece) in private travel blogs, advertising banners, forum posts and articles on big travel sites like trip advisor

      • Their own “travel tips for #country#” websites which offers the same info as other tourist sites, but where they exclusively mention their own business. They have a whole network of their own sites, each for a different country they opperate in, a different language for the customer nationality they are targeting and the age group/price level they want to serve

      • social media channels of course

      • In forum posts where the company is mentioned in a bad way, some new account pops up defending the company, or the thread is deleted soon afterwards.

      • Same with online reviews on google maps, where the company sits at a 4.5 score, but some bad reviews about deposits not being paid out after the car was returned have magically disappeared.

      tl;dr: the internet is all ads!