The Trust & Role of Search Engines

The Role of Search Engines

Search engines play a crucial role in providing information to users in the digital age. They are often relied upon to provide reliable and trustworthy information, particularly in the top search results. However, studies have shown that search engines can be biased and promote fringe groups that spread harmful views. Additionally, different search engines prioritize specific categories of information sources, which can lead to unequal access to information among users. Despite these issues, search engines remain an important tool for accessing information. It is important for users to be aware of these biases and to consider optimizing for other search engines to reach different demographics. Ultimately, the role and trust in search engines is a complex topic that requires further research and education to ensure that users have access to reliable and accurate information.

These results show that search engines are not an objective source of information. Search engines may have flaws in their algorithm that can lead to dangerous views being showcased and other views being silenced. Despite the clear issues of trusting search engines as an unbiased source of information, the public opinion of search engines has largely not changed. The reason is likely a lack of education about how search engines work. Recent studies (European Commission 2016; Lewandowski et al. 2018; Purcell, Brenner, and Rainie 2012) have found that most users have a limited understanding of how search engines and rankings work.

Trust in Search Engines

Despite having a lack of knowledge about search engines, many users still place trust in them as a dependable source of information. According to a study from Purcell, Brenner and Rainie (2012), 91% of US users say they always or mostly find the information they are looking for when using a search engine. 66% of US users view search engines as a fair and unbalanced source of information (Purcell et al, 2012), while 78% of European users trust that search engines will give them the most relevant results (European Commission, 2016). Additionally, users have been found to view search engines as more trustworthy than traditional news outlets (Edelman, 2019) and social media (Newman et al, 2020). This data indicates that search engines have become the dominant source of information, and are believed to be reliable and objective despite evidence to the contrary.

Not only are search engines trusted, but most users will not scroll past the first page of search results. Bawden and Robinson (2009) found in their study that most users stopped searching once they found information that was considered “good enough.” A study of the Yahoo search engine analyzing 2.5 billion queries found that only 10,000 websites accounted for 80% of user clicks (Goel et al, 2010). These studies suggest that search results are highly skewed toward only a few sources, and sources that appear on the first page of results receive the vast majority of attention. Since users generally trust search engines, the businesses and ads that appear on the first page also gain significantly more trust than their competition.

If you want to run a successful business in 2023, you must understand the importance of appearing on the first page of search results. Building trust with your audience requires good content and knowledge on your topic, but visibility is also essential.