Slashdot Mirror
Amazon is Stuffing Its Search Results Pages With Ads (recode.net)
If it feels like Amazon's site is increasingly stuffed with ads, that's because it is. And it looks like that's working -- at least for brands that are willing to fork over ad dollars as part of their strategy to sell on Amazon. From a report: Amazon-sponsored product ads have been around since 2012. But lately, as the company has invested in growing its advertising business, they've become more aggressive. See, for example, our search below for "cereal." The first three results, which take up the whole screen above the fold -- everything visible before you scroll -- are sponsored placements that appear as search results: Ads for Kellogg's Special K, Quaker Life and Cap'n Crunch. (It's similarly dramatic on mobile, where it takes up the entire first screen.) This is followed by a section featuring Amazon's own brand, 365 Everyday Value, which was part of its Whole Foods acquisition. Not until scrolling down halfway on the next browser "page" do organic search results -- non-paid, non-Amazon brands -- come up: Post's Honey Bunches of Oats and Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats and Frosted Flakes.
Amazon search has been increasingly ignoring the input and just barfing out SPAM. Even very specific searches mix in both sponsored and otherwise promoted items to the point where exact matches often are excluded. I went looking for a bicycle chain ring I have previously bought. Multiple exact name searches and variants turned up nothing but SPAM and semi-related bicycle garbage. I figured it was no longer carriered, wrong. Google found it on Amazon and it was still quite actively sold, just not discoverable through Amazon's search. Screw Bezos.
I've found the quality/ranking of amazon results to be TERRIBLE. I always do a google search when I want to find products on amazon.
I tried to buy plywood and supplies on Amazon but I couldnt find any because of all the damn ads!
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
The term for that is price gouging when it happens around the time of a natural disaster.
It is only called "gouging" by people that don't understand markets. The likely storm track has been known for days. So why didn't the suppliers run extra overtime shifts to bring in more supplies? Answer: Because they knew they would not be allowed to recoup the extra costs, since NC has price control laws.
So anti-market laws were the reason for the shortage. "Price gouging" is the solution. Sure, prices would be higher, but not by as much as you think, since extra supplies would limit the rise. But there would have been far fewer shortages.
> Amazon search has been increasingly ignoring the input and just barfing out SPAM
Precisely. In the article they search for "Justin's peanut butter" because they want that specific item, but instead Amazon returns results for a bunch of Other peanut butters irrelevant to want the customer wants.
Just now I searched for "Bounty Basic towels" and instead I was hit with a bunch of brands I care nothing about. When I want cheap Basic Bounty, that's EXACTLY what I want.... not other junk,.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall