Google you can use it for everything
from finding photos of cats to finding
photos of cats to is anyone here not
looking at photos of cats I'm shopping
online right for a sushi question for my
cat
good enough millions of us trust Google
to search the web
but how trustworthy is it for online
shopping check out the or Becky wanted
to buy a kid's rocking chair for
Christmas so she googled it and one of
the top results with rocks or condo day
you she pay three hundred and eighty
dollars but the presents never arrived
and tragically to get last-minute
replacements she had to go to Ikea on
Christmas Eve
well Becky Christmas Eve is one of the
365 worst days to go to Ikea turns out
Becky's experience with rock sorrow is
not unique the hybrids of terrible
reviews online and they've been on the
Office of Fair Trading list of most
complained about companies in New South
Wales almost every single month since
they started publishing it and if that's
not bad enough socks are also sold a
five packs of men's underwear for almost
forty thousand dollars although you do
get free shipping but despite all this
Google continues to run socks or a
product advertisements in their results
at one point the fluoro has a fourth
most product listings of any website on
Google Australia so why does Google lead
shoppers to sites like socks Oh huh it's
a good question when you search
something like looks something else
go who use the really sophisticated
the algorithm that such as feelings and
webpages to try and bring you the ones
that is reliable and relevant
that sounds helpful it is but it only
applies to this much of your search
results these ones that say add and
these ones that say sponsored and
literally everything on this Google
Shopping tab or use a very different
method those stores hey this is
important I know an S on these stores of
all paid Google to be here and the more
they pay the better their placement will
be so a hat store might pay Google a
dollar per click the ads on search terms
like felt hats and to some desire reason
carpet water damage Melbourne costs
around ninety dollars to click it's
craft beer and beer doll stands on fudge
even after a whole case of coconut water
I'll Google carpet water damage
Melbourne the advertising revenue from
all these clicks really add up Google's
got so much money they can make all
their officers look like a spoilt child
bedroom so Google is really two
different systems working at the same
time there's good Google that's designed
to bring the most relevant websites to
you and bad good that's designed to
bring you to the websites of pay Google
the most and when you google something
say Twitter Beck's I mean this is the
ABC after all nice vest you're actually
using both of these systems at once and
if you click the Google Shopping tab or
shop the sweater vest with Google and
must be s saw this really prominent
piece of text you might not realize that
you've switched entirely over to bad
Google and you're far more likely to get
shown dodgy websites like socks or oh
this doesn't mean that everyone who
advertises with Google is bad but it
does mean that dodgy websites can use
the paid model to get their links to the
top and plenty of them do come with me
nice with the started by a go-go the
shonky online ticket reseller we covered
in episode 1 pays to get their links to
the top of your Google results and when
we search for Samsung Galaxy phones or
by cameras or for Samsung smartwatches
Google Shopping returns top results with
the store Android enjoyed camera sky
angler curbs which are all businesses
the New South Wales Department of Fair
Trading warned against because consumers
have lost around 150 grand through them
that's like 18 pairs of socks or
Underpants
not only that it looks like camera-sky
have a five-star rating but that rating
is for the camera, not the store even
though it's right under the store name
which is yet another way the bad Google
can lead you astray but Google suggests
another option it's oh look so again
yeah where the cameras are twice the price
and might not even arrive where are we
going I want to find out where Google
lets all these dodgy merchants run ads
on their website, I'm going straight to
Google's head offices what do you have
to say two people have been scanned by
stores on Google Shopping so this is a
children's play center cool I think in
our real Google told us that they
conduct for different types of reviews
of online sellers but whatever their
the process is up six months after we first
asked Google about Doc's or oh there was
still at the top of Google Shopping
results and if Google had just googled
it they would have found all the
thorough reviews they could possibly
need so don't trust stores just because
they're at the top of your google
shopping results Google sort them by
profitability, not reliability, and to
come across a store that you don't know
when you're shopping online check some
review sites good Google can help you
with this or being more information
check out our previous segment on online
shopping if you need a credit or a
debit card to make your online purchase
and it never arrived then you may be
eligible for something called a
chargeback well that certainly sounds
like a thing for people who got ripped
off my socks are like Becky the good
news if the socks are Oh have finally
closed down but it doesn't address any
of the problems with Google shopping all
the fact that they let sites likely to
thrive in the first place on the upside
I got these freedom means that they're
closing down sale for only ten grand
it's free shipping
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