"Study Shows Declining Google Search Quality Due to SEO Spam and AI-generated Garbage"

A study from Germany suggests that the quality of Google's search results has declined due to an increase in SEO spam, particularly in product review queries. While Google has made some improvements, the study indicates an overall decrease in text quality across all three search engines. Google has defended its search quality and efforts to combat spam, but the study raises concerns about the impact of SEO spam and the blurring line between benign content and spam, especially with the rise of generative AI. The study comes amid ongoing scrutiny of Google's dominance in the online search market and its use of automation and AI in content generation.