Search neutrality
Encyclopedia
Search neutrality is a principle
that search engines should have no editorial policies other than that their results be comprehensive, impartial and based solely on relevance. This means that when a user queries a search engine, the engine should return the most relevant results found in the provider's domain (those sites which the engine has knowledge of), without manipulating the order of the results (except to rank them by relevance), excluding results, or in any other way manipulating the results to a certain bias
.
Search neutrality is related to network neutrality
in that they both aim to keep any one organization from limiting or altering a user's access to services on the Internet. Search neutrality aims to keep the organic search
results (results returned because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to results sponsored by advertising) of a search engine free from any manipulation, while network neutrality aims to keep those who provide and govern access to the internet from limiting the availability of resources to access any given content.
" service to compare products available on online markets for the U.K. Many people see these "vertical search" sites as spam. Beginning in 2006 and for three and a half years following, Foundem’s traffic and business dropped significantly due to a “penalty” applied by Google. Adam Raff, co-founder of Foundem, first coined the term search neutrality in December 2009 in his op-ed piece in The New York Times
after Google removed the “penalty” from Foundem. Foundem launched SearchNeutrality.org, a website dedicated to promote investigations against Google, in the same year. Most of Foundem’s accusations claim that Google applies penalties to other vertical search engines just because they represent competition. Foundem is backed by a Microsoft proxy group, the 'Initiative for Competitive Online Marketplace'.
's large market share (85%) has made them a target for search neutrality litigation via antitrust laws.
. In February 2010, Google releases an article on the Google Public Policy blog expressing their concern for fair competition, when other companies at the UK joined Foundem's cause (eJustice.fr, and Microsoft's Ciao! from Bing) also claiming being unfairly penalized by Google.
’s Universal Search has been touted as one of the least neutral search engine practices. After the implementation of Universal Search websites such as MapQuest
saw a massive decline in traffic. This decline has been attributed to Google linking to its own services rather than the services offered at external websites. Despite these claims, Google actually displays Google content on the first page where rival search engines do not considerably less often than Microsoft's Bing displays Microsoft content when rivals do not. Bing displays Microsoft content in first place more than twice as often as Google shows Google content in first place. This indicates that as far as there is any 'bias', Google is less biased than its principal competitor.
Principle
A principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed...
that search engines should have no editorial policies other than that their results be comprehensive, impartial and based solely on relevance. This means that when a user queries a search engine, the engine should return the most relevant results found in the provider's domain (those sites which the engine has knowledge of), without manipulating the order of the results (except to rank them by relevance), excluding results, or in any other way manipulating the results to a certain bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
.
Search neutrality is related to network neutrality
Network neutrality
Network neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the Internet...
in that they both aim to keep any one organization from limiting or altering a user's access to services on the Internet. Search neutrality aims to keep the organic search
Organic search
Organic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements. In contrast, non-organic search results may include pay per click advertising....
results (results returned because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to results sponsored by advertising) of a search engine free from any manipulation, while network neutrality aims to keep those who provide and govern access to the internet from limiting the availability of resources to access any given content.
"Vertical search" spam penalties
In order to find information on the Web, most users make use of search engines, which crawl the web, index it and show a list of results ordered by relevance. The use of search engines to access information through the web has become a key factor for online businesses companies, which depend on the flow of users visiting their pages. One of these companies is Foundem. Foundem provides a "vertical searchVertical search
A vertical search engine, as distinct from a general web search engine, focuses on a specific segment of online content. The vertical content area may be based on topicality, media type, or genre of content. Common verticals include shopping, the automotive industry, legal information, medical...
" service to compare products available on online markets for the U.K. Many people see these "vertical search" sites as spam. Beginning in 2006 and for three and a half years following, Foundem’s traffic and business dropped significantly due to a “penalty” applied by Google. Adam Raff, co-founder of Foundem, first coined the term search neutrality in December 2009 in his op-ed piece in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
after Google removed the “penalty” from Foundem. Foundem launched SearchNeutrality.org, a website dedicated to promote investigations against Google, in the same year. Most of Foundem’s accusations claim that Google applies penalties to other vertical search engines just because they represent competition. Foundem is backed by a Microsoft proxy group, the 'Initiative for Competitive Online Marketplace'.
The Foundem’s case chronology
The following table details Foundem's chronology of events as found on their website:| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2006 | Foundem’s Google search penalty begins. Foundem starts an arduous campaign to have the penalty lifted. |
| August 2006 | Foundem’s AdWord penalty begins. Foundem starts an arduous campaign to have the penalty lifted. |
| August 2007 | Teleconference with Google AdWords Quality Team representative. |
| September 2007 | Foundem is “whitelisted” for AdWords (i.e. Google manually grants Foundem immunity from its AdWords penalty). |
| January 2009 | Foundem starts “public” campaign to raise awareness of this new breed of penalty and manual whitelisting. |
| April 2009 | First meeting with ICOMP ICOMP iCOMP for Intel Comparative Microprocessor Performance was an index published by Intel used to measure the relative performance of its microprocessors.... . |
| October 2009 | Teleconference with Google Search Quality Team representative, beginning a detailed dialogue between Foundem and Google. |
| December 2009 | Foundem is “whitelisted” for Google natural search (i.e. Google manually grants Foundem immunity from its search penalty). |
Other cases
GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's large market share (85%) has made them a target for search neutrality litigation via antitrust laws.
. In February 2010, Google releases an article on the Google Public Policy blog expressing their concern for fair competition, when other companies at the UK joined Foundem's cause (eJustice.fr, and Microsoft's Ciao! from Bing) also claiming being unfairly penalized by Google.
Pros
- Those who advocate search neutrality argue that the results would not be biased towards sites with more advertising, but towards sites most relevant to the user.
- Search neutrality encourages sites to have more quality content rather than pay to rank higher on organic results.
- Restrains search engines from only supporting their best advertisers.
- Search engines would allow traffic to sites that depend on visitors, keeping their results comprehensive, impartial, and based solely on relevance.
- Allows for organized, logical manipulation of search results by an objective, automatic algorithm. At the same time, disallowing underhanded ranking of results on an individual basis.
Cons
- Forcing search engines to treat all websites equally would lead to the removal of their biased look at the Internet. A biased view of the Internet is exactly what search users are seeking. By performing a search the user is seeking what that search engine perceives as the "best" result to their query. Enforced search neutrality would, essentially, remove this bias. Users continually return to a specific search engine because they find the "biased" or "subjective" results to fit their needs.
- Search neutrality has the possibility of causing search engines to become stagnant. If site A is first on a SERP (search engine results page) one month, and then tenth the next month search neutrality advocates cry "foul play," but in reality it is often the pages loss in popularity, relevance, or quality content that has caused the move. The case against Google brought forth by the owners of Foundem extoll this phenomenon and regulation could limit the search engine's ability to adjust ranking based on their own metrics.
- Proponents of search neutrality desire transparency in a search engine's ranking algorithm. Requiring transparent algorithms leads to two concerns. These algorithms are the companies private intellectual propertyIntellectual propertyIntellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
and should not be forced into the open. This would be similar to forcing a soda manufacturer to publish their recipes. The second concern is that opening the algorithm would allow spammers to exploit and target how the algorithm functions directly. This would permit spammers to circumvent the metrics in place that prevent spammed websites from being at the top of a SERP.
- Removing a search engine's ability to directly manipulate rankings limits their ability to penalize dishonest websites that practice black hatBlack hatA black hat is the villain or bad guy, especially in a western movie in which such a character would stereotypically wear a black hat in contrast to the hero's white hat, especially in black and white movies....
techniques to improve their rankings. Any site who finds a way to circumvent the algorithm would benefit from a search engine's inability to manually decrease their ranking causing a spam site to gain high ranking for extended periods of time.
Related Issues
GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
’s Universal Search has been touted as one of the least neutral search engine practices. After the implementation of Universal Search websites such as MapQuest
MapQuest
MapQuest is an American free online web mapping service owned by AOL. The company was founded in 1967 as Cartographic Services, a division of R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1969. When it became an independent company in 1994, it was...
saw a massive decline in traffic. This decline has been attributed to Google linking to its own services rather than the services offered at external websites. Despite these claims, Google actually displays Google content on the first page where rival search engines do not considerably less often than Microsoft's Bing displays Microsoft content when rivals do not. Bing displays Microsoft content in first place more than twice as often as Google shows Google content in first place. This indicates that as far as there is any 'bias', Google is less biased than its principal competitor.