Warning
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "But we believe the issue of advertising causes enough mixed incentives that it is crucial to have a competitive search engine that is transparent and in the academic realm."
    —Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "Since it is very difficult even for experts to evaluate search engines, search engine bias is particularly insidious."
    —Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "This type of bias is much more insidious than advertising, because it is not clear who "deserves" to be there, and who is willing to pay money to be listed."
    —Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "Furthermore, advertising income often provides an incentive to provide poor quality search results."
    —Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "In general, it could be argued from the consumer point of view that the better the search engine is, the fewer advertisements will be needed for the consumer to find what they want."
    —Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "For this type of reason and historical experience with other media, we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers."
    —Google Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    Google Shopping Goes International in February 2013. Countries in line to be Scroogled include UK, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia and Switzerland.
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "The relationship between Google and Web sites, publishers and advertisers often seems lopsided, if not unfair."
    —The New York Times
  • SCROOGLED ALERT:
    "But Google is walking a tricky line, which antitrust regulators are watching closely."
    —The New York Times
 
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Scroogled pronunciation

verb 

1. The Google practice of selling their shopping search results to a high bidder; known to produce intense anger in online shoppers who might miss out on the best price or the highest quality items.

2. Because Google Shopping only includes results from advertisers who pay them, some of the world's largest retailers aren't included.

3. The loss of money associated with a bad Google Shopping search result. Side effects of not getting the best price when you thought you were include sadness, frustration and overall indignation.

See also: bamboozled; befuddled; duped; flimflammed; hoodwinked; hornswoggled


Sample sentence: "These jeans were a top pick on Google but I found a better price–I've been Scroogled!"

Scroogled Scroogled
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In the beginning, Google preached, "Don't be evil"—but that changed on May 31, 2012. That's when Google Shopping announced a new initiative. Simply put, all of their shopping results are now paid ads.

In their under-the-radar announcement, Google admits they've now built "a purely commercial model" that delivers listings ranked by "bid price." Google Shopping is nothing more than a list of targeted ads that unsuspecting customers assume are search results. They call these "Product Listing Ads" a "truly great search."

We say that when you limit choices and rank them by payment, consumers get Scroogled. For an honest search result, try Bing.

Don't get Scroogled this holiday season.
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Have you been duped by a bad search? Share your story on our Facebook page.

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The devil is in the details

Google says their shopping results are based on "relevance." Watch this video to see the fine print where they reveal the truth about their paid ads.


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Are you getting Scroogled?
Holiday shopping? Don't get Scroogled
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