For two years running, Google’s broken major promises about search. It began doing paid inclusion in 2012, which it once called “evil.” This year, it’s experimenting with banner ads it said would never be allowed. Both represent major philosophical shifts for the company about search, but shifts it has largely avoided explaining. Does that erode user trust?
That’s the focus of my column at MarTech this week, Google’s Broken Promises & Who’s Running The Search Engine?
It looks at the history behind both promises plus how search has a “fuzzy management” structure at Google, which perhaps means no one feels responsible to explain why such changes are happening. Or, perhaps Google feels it has so much trust that explanations are no longer necessary.
For more, see my column:
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