Algorithms follow specific patterns, and it's only a matter of time before someone figures these out and learns how to game them. With Google, the big offenders have been spammers, who try all sorts of tricks to generate search results.
Publishers and other websites often play similar games in an effort to capture higher page rank, thus winning more traffic and consequently more money. The downside is that these tricks may violate Google's terms of service, provided the gamesters get caught.
I was thinking about this recently while researching a topic I've been writing about, the changing minimum wage. Recall how infuriating it was that profitable, publicly traded companies had been taking advantage of the U.S. social safety net, leaving it to taxpayers to subsidize their operations. McDonald's was probably the biggest offender, with its notorious McResource site and help line, which told employee how to take advantage of government programs such as food stamps - an open admission employees weren't paid enough to live on. The company has since closed the page.
While doing my research, I decided to verify some information on Seattle's decision last year to raise its minimum wage.
Normally, when you do a Google search for simple information, you get a quick "saved you a click" answer at the top of the search. For example, a search for "Miles Davis birthday" returns May 26, 1926; the "capital of Lithuania" is Vilnius. These shortcuts are useful time savers -- assuming they are correct.
That assumption, though, might be a mistake. Punch in "Seattle minimum wage" into the Google machine, and the tech giant's normally wonderful algorithms provides the following, with an answer of "$15":
Google's vaunted algorithm has been gamed this time by not spammers but people of similar ideologies who seem to care little for facts.
"Seattle became the first city in the nation to implement the $15 per hour minimum wage this past spring. Fox News reports that one unintended effect is that the workers who are earning the higher wage are asking for fewer hours, so they can remain eligible for low income government benefits like childcare and tax credits." Immediately underneath is a link to www.westernjournalism.com.
If you were unaware that Seattle's minimum wage was actually $11, you might leave without knowing you hadn't found the correct answer.
The search was fooled by what looked like an authoritative factual article but was in fact a commentary filled with misleading information. The conservative site Western Journalism has incorrectly written about this in March, and again in July and numerous times since.
"In a few weeks, Seattle's new, highest in the country, $15 per hour minimum wage will go into effect," the article says in the opening sentence. The article and others like it go on to cite all the "fallout" the city's businesses are experiencing. This is patently false, as the minimum wage that went into effect on April 1 in Seattle is $11. The $15 rate doesn't start until Jan. 1, 2017, and may be delayed for some companies until 2021 based on their size.
Western Journalism describes itself as "a news website and blogging platform built for conservative, libertarian, free market and pro-family writers and broadcasters." Fox News, PJ Media, Breitbart, TownHall and others dominate the Google minimum wage search results, which also includes a post by the Seattle's mayor's office and The Washington Post. Indeed, most of the sources cited on the first page of search results include other conservative outlets that repeat the same false statements about Seattle's minimum wage.
We have all learned to take Wikipedia's factual assertions with a grain of salt. It seems the same may becoming true of Google's search results as well.
Google's vaunted algorithm has been gamed this time by not spammers but people of similar ideologies who seem to care little for facts.
As the 2016 election season approaches, I expect to see more of this sort of gamesmanship. Gaming systems seems to be sport in the U.S., whether it is for taxpayers' money or ideological promotion. That is unfortunate, for in a democracy the truth matters.
We have all learned to take Wikipedia's factual assertions with a grain of salt. It seems the same may becoming true of Google's search results as well.
- Barry Ritholtz, a Bloomberg View columnist, is the founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is a consultant at and former chief executive officer for FusionIQ, a quantitative research firm.
