{"id":41410,"date":"2023-10-20T15:13:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/we-dont-understand-how-google-works-and-that-could-get-the-tech-giant-in-trouble-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:13:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:45","slug":"we-dont-understand-how-google-works-and-that-could-get-the-tech-giant-in-trouble-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/we-dont-understand-how-google-works-and-that-could-get-the-tech-giant-in-trouble-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"We don’t understand how Google works and that could get the tech giant in trouble – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Angela Daly and Amanda Scardamaglia<\/em><\/p>\n
Google is the world\u2019s most popular search engine and is by far the most popular search engine used in Australia. But our research suggests that most Australians do not understand how the Google search engine works or what they are clicking on when they use it.<\/p>\n
Most of us use the Google search engine every day, whether to find information for our work, study, shopping, leisure or for pure idle curiosity. But have you taken a close look at the kinds of results Google produces when you conduct a search? And do you know the difference between an advertisement and what Google shows because it thinks it is most relevant to your inquiry?<\/p>\n
This is the question at the heart of our research on Australian internet users, which seeks to shed light on whether they understand the different search results Google produces.<\/p>\n
These results include paid-for adverts, organic or natural results produced because they are most relevant to the search inquiry and results from Google\u2019s other, affiliate services such as Google News, Google Maps and Google Shopping.<\/p>\n
We surveyed more than 1000 Australians from different backgrounds and parts of the country with the results published this week in the International Journal of Law and Information Technology.<\/p>\n
User confusion<\/h3>\n
Our results show that Australian consumers are confused about the different parts of Google\u2019s search results pages, and why Google produces them.<\/p>\n
In particular, our research indicates consumers are especially confused about the nature and origin of Google\u2019s vertical search services such as Google Shopping and its newer search features or refinements such as the Knowledge Graph box. Our research also shows that consumers are confused about the origin of organic search results.<\/p>\n
In our survey, we showed respondents two screenshots of Google search results pages from the Chrome browser on a desktop computer. Chrome is the most popular browser used in Australia.<\/p>\n
The screenshots related to the search terms \u201capple\u201d and \u201crolex\u201d. We boxed and labelled the different parts of the search results page. Then we asked respondents a series of questions about those different parts.<\/p>\n