Dialing for Donations . . . and Deductions

October 16, 2012
Posted by Jay Livingston

Google finishes your sentences for you. At least, they finish your partially typed search string, based on what searchers before you have sought. 

Then Google gives you a list of Websites based on their Algorithm. The way people talk about The Algorithm, I get a picture of some powerful, mysterious god.  Those who can unravel its secrets stand to gain mightily by having their Website win the race to the top. 

Maybe the Republicans have nailed it. Or maybe they just paid for it.   Here’s what you get if you want to donate money to the Democratic National Committee.  (Pink-background sites are paid ads.)



I guess the GOP thinks they’ll get some money by advertising to people who want to give to the Dems.

A search for donating to the Republicans has no Democratic ads. 


(Click on the image for a larger and possibly clearer view.)

What’s interesting here is the autocomplete.  Apparently, a lot of people who want to donate to the Republicans are also concerned that they get a tax break for their largesse.  Which  pretty much confirms what they’ve been telling us about their position on taxes all along – paying less on their taxes is really, really important to them.

2 comments:

Bob S. said...

Why shouldn't be paying less taxes be important to people?

Shouldn't people have control over their money or do you feel the government should decide who gets what and pass out what's left?

And as far as the search terms goes; you might want to look in the mirror.

With personalized ads, we can improve your ad experience by showing you ads related to websites you visit, recent searches and clicks, or information from your Gmail inbox.

Google tries to show you the most relevant ads, whether or not you're opted in to seeing personalized ads. While we often match ads with specific pages (based on the page content or the search terms you enter), additional information helps us personalize your ads.


So it is entirely possible the terms that came up are based ON YOUR efforts and not everyone else.

Bob S. said...

and

If you're signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled, you might also see search queries from relevant searches that you've done in the past.