Among free market rules, one of them says to supply consumers’ demands with products that cost what the market thinks it is reasonable. One of the most growing demands is the customization of Internet services, such as e-mail, search results and social networks. As an example, each Facebook timeline is unique, not just because each person has different friends, but also different interests. This is the function of EdgeRank, Facebook’s algorithm.

Right after SERP changes, which turned many of them in 7-result SERPs, our team at Conversion got wondering:

• Why is Google changing results along the day several times?
• Why, at the same time, did it decrease the number of SERP results?
• Is it a test or is it permanent?
• Which benefits is Google giving the consumer?
• In which way is Google raising its profits?

It seems to us that these problems are exactly what we need to answer to understand the changes. However, no answer was satisfactory in answering the problems above, except for one that I intend to share with you.

Why show only seven results

About one year ago, specifically August 17^th, 2011, Google performed a test by showing infinite results at SERP. That is, there were not navigation pages and the next results were shown by scrolling down the screen. It was not successful and Google discontinued the change.

Now, the change is the opposite: Google is reducing the number of results. Would that be better for its users? Will this SERP be spread to all Google SERPs?

It seems to be a permanent change, given that it is working at Google USA, Google Brazil and Google Germany’s algorithm and probably all over the world.

Positions changing over the day

Paradoxically SERPs change more and more along the day, while they show fewer results. We like to keep attention in people that search for specific keywords to find an exact website. These people, probably a large group, would be damaged: fewer results at SERPs, leading to fewer options at organic searches for users.

It is hard to find benefits for users with these changes, considering the damage with unstable SERPs and finding a smaller number of options.

Google always profits

There is no need to be a beautiful mind to identify the ways by which Google profits with these SERP changes. It is really simple:

With fewer organic results, there is a larger range of sponsored results and then higher probability of clicks. So, Google gets a bigger income.

However, the issue continues, because we do not see how users could benefit, given they have fewer options and confusing rankings.

Connecting the dots

Outside Brazil there is much more customized SERP. Here in Brazil they are poorly customized, at the most, there are local SERPs and previously clicked results rank higher when logged in.

This instability of SERPs, we may say, will help to give a larger range of options to people searching at Google and then it can tested at once and for all the best results.

An observation: it seems to us that 7-result SERPs are less unstable than others. It may be due to the fact that these are the new SERPs, while the 10-result SERP, with greater variation, are the “transitional SERPs”. As we speculate, Google will calculate CTR both for groups and for individuals logged in and so it will determine the best results for them.

Making the results unstable, Google could customize even more the results according to consumers’ demands and behavior to get exclusive results. This is the benefit offered by Google to the user.

The instability creates the opportunity to know more about the user even if it is not logged in, working with user groups according to interests in search, localization, related and not related searches, devices and historical data.

Thanks to these customized results, which are exactly what the user is searching for, Google can raise the range of its sponsored links, turning SERPs into almost an advertising pages only.

In this way, Google profits and users just think they are getting benefits.

Radical change at organic search

Therefore, it brings a radical change in the concept of organic search. If results are customized, one is unable to find something uncustomized and new, so it will be seen mostly things that were seen previously (or seen by his friends or people with similar profiles). Naturally this cannot be understood as definitive rule, because one can always do different searches; nevertheless, the trends lead people to have less possibility of knowing something different or a different point of view. Customization algorithms, as this TED Talk by Eli Pariser, tend to create bubbles where people are stuck and unable to get out of themselves and come closer to others. Watch the video.

However, Eli Pariser may not have noticed that there is customization only in organic results, but not yet in sponsored results. Considering that organic results are things already known by the users, their discoveries can only happen through advertising.

Is that overthinking? Conspiracy theory? Comment!