Structuring structurations
Posted 11.05.2009 in Drugs, Internet
Has anybody else noticed this?
Go to the Google homepage. Type a letter in the box. A list of suggestions or recommended searches pops up. This list is based on other people’s searches as well as your own personal history of searches.
Type “M”. I get the following list: Myspace, mapquest, msn, maps, mapquest driving directions, macys. So first of all, I never search for any of these things (with the exception of “maps,” which I search for with some regularity). And second of all, what is quite clear from this list is that there’s some money moving around somewhere. Unless you believe that people search for “Macy’s” more often than they search for “money.” Who knows.
Now type “e”. My list: mega millions, megan fox, and metro pcs. I don’t even know who Megan Fox is.
Now type “dica.” My list: medicann, medical dictionary, medical care. Fair enough.
Now type “l ma”. I get medical malpractice, medical malpractice lawyers, medical malpractice cases.
See where this is going? Type “r”. I get one suggestion: medical mart. What?
So what do we get when we type “medical mari”? Absolutely nothing. Google has no idea, no clue whatsoever, what I could possibly be trying to search for. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Yep: Google refuses to suggest that anybody search for medical marijuana.
Of course, you could also just hit enter.
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well, it’s slightly more complicated than that. anything that comes up in one of those suggested search terms is word or phrase that some media buyer (re: advertiser) has bought on behalf of a company. I think it works such that those links that appear in the shaded “Sponsored link” box at the top of the page when you do a search are the ones who’ve paid the most, and the ones on the side bar are ones who’ve paid a little less (digital real estate).
So what this is really showing is that either no one has bought the search term “medical marijuana” or that, for some reason, Google isn’t selling it. There might be legal reasons for this, having to do with something ridiculous like child protection.