Web-site roulette

Out of curiosity, I plugged my name into some Internet search engines
recently. It's a pretty common name, especially since I used "Jim" and not "James," so I didn't expect to find myself first on the results list. But I did expect other people would be there, and sometimes they were--most notably Jim Guest of the Missouri House of Representatives. That's a good thing because easy access to our elected officials is key to making this country work.

But at the top of the list on several search engines were a few vacation spots that weren't called Jim Guest, weren't owned by Jim Guest, and didn't appear to welcome only guests named Jim, so I was kind of puzzled.

Not so the people who work at Consumer WebWatch, Consumers Union's project to improve the credibility of online information.

In July 2003, WebWatch published results of a study on consumers' understanding of--and their reactions to--how search engines work. WebWatch had found in an earlier study that 60 percent of Internet-savvy consumers didn't know that companies can, and do, pay to be listed ahead of their competitors in searches. The new study found that most respondents knew very little about how search engines compile, rank, and list results. When told the facts, they felt, at best, misled. Our advice: Know that the search results you see may have been bought by the companies listed. And realize that "sponsored link" means the company paid to be there--a legitimate practice, but one that search engines should disclose as advertising.

Our November 2003 report on online rental-car shopping presents the results of WebWatch's most recent investigation. Researchers' findings show that consumers should watch for bias when they search for a rental car online. On one site, only five car-rental companies came on the screen when a tester asked for the best price for a given date and location. It wasn't until the researcher clicked on a button at the bottom of the screen labeled "show more vendors" that the lowest price available actually appeared.

WebWatch is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. For more on our studies (including a project on hotel-booking sites) and a list of firms that have agreed to follow WebWatch's site-credibility guidelines, log on to www.consumerwebwatch.org. Tell them Jim what's-his-name sent you.

Jim Guest President