

An interesting essay on search neutrality - abraham
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/search-neutrality/

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Matt_Cutts
I'd be curious what people on HN think of that essay. The direct link is
[http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034...](http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=james_grimmelmann)
for the PDF or <http://james.grimmelmann.net/essays/SearchNeutrality> for the
HTML version. The PDF is more in-depth, but it's a fairly long read.

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Andrew_Quentin
I agree with the main proposition that search by its very nature is not
neutral, you are searching for something specific and therefore biased towards
that something.

However, I do not think he effectively argued that google does not manipulate
its results by favouring itself, specifically in regards to paid results or
paid ads.

These paid results are presented to the user in the same style and fashion as
the organic search results, but differentiated subtly by a very light
different colour background.

They are above organic results, right below the search box, making it much
easier for users to click on them.

Due to their prominent placement, they attract most of the attention, although
web savy users might have learned they are ads and thus have learned to ignore
them.

Finally, for all practical purposes, the paid results are the first ranked,
suggesting therefore that google finds them to be the most relevant.

The conclusion is clearly that you can buy your first position on google, even
if it is not the most relevant.

