> Google is as responsible for this as a phonebook company would be for giving you a bad phone number.
Generally, I agree, except that there is an important distinction to be made - the phonebook generally doesn't rank businesses into any order other than alphabetical. Yes, the phonebook has 'paid listings' in addition, which are bigger and more prominent, but google has these too, and like the phonebook these are labelled as such.
But the general google listings are sorted into a form of meaningful order, people expect (rightly or wrongly) that the higher up in the general listings a result is, the better it is likely to be because more people use it.
I'm not sure what the best solution to the issue is, perhaps just to accept that google isn't the best resource for finding reputable businesses, and try and educate people on the alternatives.
Generally, I agree, except that there is an important distinction to be made - the phonebook generally doesn't rank businesses into any order other than alphabetical. Yes, the phonebook has 'paid listings' in addition, which are bigger and more prominent, but google has these too, and like the phonebook these are labelled as such.
But the general google listings are sorted into a form of meaningful order, people expect (rightly or wrongly) that the higher up in the general listings a result is, the better it is likely to be because more people use it.
I'm not sure what the best solution to the issue is, perhaps just to accept that google isn't the best resource for finding reputable businesses, and try and educate people on the alternatives.