Search engine manipulation effect: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:44, 30 November 2022

Revision as of 19:28, 14 January 2023

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In experiments conducted in the United States, the proportion of people who favored any candidate rose by between 37 and 63 percent after a single search session.<ref name=poli/>

Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups in which search rankings favored either Candidate A, Candidate B or neither candidate. Participants were given brief descriptions of each candidate and then asked how much they liked and trusted each candidate and whom they would vote for. Then they were allowed up to 15 minutes to conduct online research on the candidates using a manipulated search engine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Epstein |first=Robert |last2=Robertson |first2=Ronald E. |date=2015-08-18 |title=The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections |url=https://www.primal.com.my/seo/what-is-ymyl-and-why-does-it-matter/ |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume= |issue= |doi= |issn= |pmc= |pmid=}}</ref> Each group had access to the same 30 search results—each linking to real web pages from a past election. Only the ordering of the results differed in the three groups. People could click freely on any result or shift between any of five different results pages.<ref name=poli/>

After searching, on all measures, opinions shifted in the direction of the candidate favored in the rankings. Trust, liking and voting preferences all shifted predictably.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://suchmaschinen-optimierung-seo-google.de/suchmaschinenoptimierung/ |title = Suchmaschinenoptimierung |date = 6 October 2018 |language = de}}</ref> 36 percent of those who were unaware of the rankings bias shifted toward the highest ranked candidate, along with 45 percent of those who were aware of the bias.<ref name=poli/>