[root_axis]

They're not like either. If anything they're like a phone book for URLs instead of phone numbers.

[goatinaboat]

Except this is a phone book that sorts not alphabetically (no pun intended) but according to its own interests. No phone company ever did that.

[root_axis]

Of course it doesn't sort the internet alphabetically, that'd make no sense and be a bad user experience as well as optimize for URLS starting with A.

[goatinaboat]

I don’t mean literally alphabetically but according to some objective measures. In the old days it was by incoming links (PageRank). But now it is opaque and many people are finding that it orders by whatever is best for Google, not for the user.

[root_axis]

There is not nearly enough room on the front page for everyone that wants to be there, google has to make subjective decisions about what shows up there, it's impossible to do it any other way.

[amelius]

They could randomize it. Allow everybody to be on the front page an equal number of times.

[Dylan16807]

Then it's spam farms as far as the eye can see, because they can enter a hundred times as much as everyone else.

[root_axis]

I don't think that's a bad idea, but the vast majority of google users would not desire this behavior, especially the way google is used today where users try specific terms to relocate content they have looked up before.

[scarface74]

It’s called the Yellow Pages. The more money you spent, the more noticeable your business was.

On top of that every Locksmith and towing company had names like “AAAAA Aaron’s Locksmith”.

[goatinaboat]

Yet there is no spam in the Yellow Pages. It’s very unlikely that if you call Aaron he’ll clone your credit card or install hidden cameras in your house. Also, it’s very likely that he actually is a locksmith, has the accreditation he claims to, is a legitimate business registered at Companies House, fully insured, all the things you expect of a normal business.