(Alternate title: The World Wide Web is neither free nor fair under Google)
Remember when Google felt like a helpful search engine, a gateway to all the world’s knowledge? Now, it’s more of a manipulative marketing machine. Instead of unbiased results, we’re getting a rigged game show, where the “right” answers are the ones that make Google the most money.
Pay to play
Search Google for anything and you’ll find the top search results, if not occupied by AI jibber-jabber, are an avalanche of “sponsored” links bought and paid for by companies and brands. Want real info and answers? You’ll need to scroll half a page or more to see anything worthwhile.
And even then, you’ll see only the information that Google wants you to see.
If it doesn’t fit the approved mainstream media narrative or the political or ideological views of Google, its employees, and the people who pay them . . . you won’t find it on Google.
Below: Watch this World Economic Forum lackey brag to an interviewer that the United Nations works directly with Google to rig its search engine results on the topic of climate change.
Algorithmic agony
Around the end of last year, Google made changes to its algorithms that severely reduced the visibility of blogs like mine. Content marketers and creators of all stripes lost up to 50 percent or more of their visitor traffic — and ad revenue — overnight.
(September 2024 update: It’s gotten worse. My own blog has now lost about 90 percent of its traffic since last December.)
This was and continues to be devastating for smaller companies and individuals like me who have worked so hard to make their content seen.
Related reading: Is Big Tech censoring The Cranky Creative blog?
Customer service? What’s that?
About a year ago, I realized that for some reason, I was no longer receiving Google payments for the ad revenue earned by my blog. When I looked into it, I found that Google had attempted the payments, but my bank never received them.
I fixed the problem by deleting and then re-adding my bank information in Google Ads. However, I was still out an estimated $600 to $800 — and Google would not help.
Because, wouldn’t you know it, Google Adsense offers no customer service. I searched for hours to find a solution, a phone number, or a person to talk to. The only “help” Google ever provided was to direct me (via an automated online wizard) to post to its “community forums” to ask other Google users who were also getting screwed.
To this day, I’ve received no help and Google still owes me money that I know I will never see.
The bottom line? Google prioritizes profits over people
Sure, Google is fine for finding cat videos and reviews of local businesses. But for anything else? You’re at the mercy of Google’s algorithm and agenda.
(And since Google owns YouTube, you’ll find the same censorship there.)
By using Google as your preferred seach engine, you are agreeing to see the world only as Google allows you to see it. And that is a great way to make sure you stay misinformed.
(This is not meant as a slight. It is a simple fact that in today’s world, we are all being misinformed.)
The good news is, there are alternatives. Search engines such as Qwant, Brave, Mojeek, and Yandex prioritize user privacy and unbiased results. (Note that Google’s Chrome browser no longer allows users to access Yandex. But of course.) Explore these options (no, really — compare the Google search results you get for a contentious topic such as COVID vaccines or climate change to any of the search engines above) and take an important step to breaking free from Big Tech tyranny and the matrix mind-control prison.
P.S. Besides Google, avoid Bing, Yahoo!, and Duck Duck Go. These search engines also manipulate their results to show you only the information they want you to see.
P.P.S. For all of you jab fans out there, here’s some information to help bring you up to speed. How on Earth this video is still up on YouTube, I have no idea.
AUGUST 5 UPDATE: Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks Google needs a spanking. In what has been described as “the biggest anti-trust case of the 21st century,” a federal U.S. judge ruled that Google has illegally held a monopoly in two market areas — search and text advertising. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one” to shut out competitors and limit user choice, Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for D.C. wrote in his ruling. Good. Let’s see what happens.
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I was just telling my husband this same thing last week. Where once you searched and actually found the site you needed on the first page of results, you now must scroll through endless pages of sponsored sites. I began using Brave for this reason and am satisfied with the results so far but fear that it too will be gobbled up by Google or another WEF player.
I’m old enough to remember when the world wide web was a magical place where endless information was available at no cost at your very fingertips. People and sites were helpful and there was a sense of freedom and camaraderie. That’s all gone now, replaced once again by greed and the desire for power and control. I find myself using the internet less and less which in actuality is a good thing, all things considered. But it didn’t need to be like that.
Sorry to hear you’ve been the victim of Google’s insatiable greed. Customer Service on the whole is also dying out. Have you tried getting a hold of Amazon’s CS department lately? I know I sound like a pessimist but I don’t see anything changing for the better in the future. The late great planet earth.
You said it, Cynthia. It’s amazing how far Google has fallen, and it is totally the result of — as you say — “greed and the desire for power and control.”
It’s gotten so bad that soon, I suspect that even the sheep will begin to notice.
Thank you for writing. I enjoy your comments and it’s always great to hear from you.