[echelon]

I'm fine with Google having a lackluster flights booking app.

I'm not fine with it showing up by default.

I'm seriously pissed off when stores (Google Play Store, App Store, Amazon, et al.) show ads when I search for a brand name. Ads show up first for popular item categories, and sometimes take all the space above the fold.

I was looking for HBO Max this weekend. Disney came up first. How is that permissable?

To sell your competitor's name is wholly uncompetitive. A shakedown of every business with an internet presence.

Just because Google was in the right place at the right time shouldn't give it license to continue this shitty behavior -- without innovating or delivering value -- for the rest of all time.

[xyzelement]

// To sell your competitor's name is wholly uncompetitive

I don’t know where this came from. If I am googling Cancun it’s the perfect time to show me an ad for less famous destination I never heard of but might end up going to.

If I had somehow never heard of Toyota, telling me it exists when I am looking up Honda is perfect.

I get that there are plenty of times where this is annoying but there are also plenty of times where this unlocks awareness that helps a consumer.

[echelon]

Search became the only way to access platforms and sales channels.

Google is the gatekeeper of search. (Just as an app store is the gatekeeper of software on a mobile platform.)

Google gets to tax every inquiry into your product, even those with direct sales intent.

If you put people on a bell curve distribution, some non-negligible percentage will always click on the first link. Google taxes all of this.

[jfoster]

It depends on how it's done, doesn't it?

If it's presented as a relevant result, it doesn't seem so good. If it's presented as "you might also be interested in" then it seems better.

[RhodesianHunter]

What bothers me is when I Google "Pepsi" and item #1 is a Pepsi ad, item #2 is Pepsi's website.

It's obvious what I wanted, neither I nor Pepsi are happy about that ad being there...

[easton]

Freakonomics had a episode one time about this very thing (and some other stuff in online advertising), using eBay as a case study. They were buying ads on the term "eBay". Presumably Pepsi is doing the same thing.

[gattilorenz]

To my utter disappointment, the Apple store is not better in that regard.

I went for an Apple device to move away from Google-the-nosy-company, but I was happy to leave Google-the-advertising-company too. Yesterday I was searching for "microsoft authenticator" in the app store, and the top result is... another "sponsored" authenticator. WTF, Apple?

[malfist]

I've noticed lately that your search results in Google play store is "below the fold" significantly. 2+ pages of scrolling to get to it.

This is especially insidious when you're searching for security or banking apps.

For example on my device I search for "chase" first result is Chime, followed by a box labeled "ads related to your search" with rocket money, Western Union, and a payday loan company.

Then below that is "limited time events" that list the barbie app, uno and some racing game.

Then below that is "You might also like" with Uber, Mahjong, and some habit tracker.

Then below that is "Similar Apps" with wells Fargo, Discover and PNY Bank apps.

Then below that is my search results with the first result being the chase app.

I don't know how this behavior is defensible

[TheOtherHobbes]

The App Store on iOS is a surreal Kafka-esque joke. You can type in the exact name of an app and it will either not appear at all, or won't appear until the n-th slot in the list.

The QR code search doesn't do this, so apparently someone decided that text searches should.

[justsomehnguy]

> WTF, Apple?

People are still believe there are ethical companies, whatever it means for them.

[mc32]

This is especially concerning with re: software MFA. People are downloading fakes because when they search for an MFA solution often the one they’re looking for by name is not the first or second one listed and they get confused.

This is a security risk.