The search algorithm in action

Why are algorithms used by dominant search engines becoming a privacy threat? Do algorithms ‘filter’ the internet according to user patterns?

The story so far: Algorithms play a crucial role for search engines as they process millions of web searches every day. With the quantity of information available on the internet growing steadily, search algorithms are becoming increasingly complex, raising privacy and other concerns and drawing the attention of regulators. Last month, U.K.’s digital watchdog said they will take a closer look at algorithms, seeking views on the benefits and risks of how sites and apps use algorithms, as well as inputs on auditing algorithms, the current landscape and the role of regulators.

An algorithm, essentially, is a series of instructions. It can be used to perform a calculation, find answers to a question or solve a problem. Search engines use a number of algorithms to perform different functions prior to displaying relevant results to an individual’s search request.

Tech giant Alphabet Inc’s Google, whose flagship product is the Google search engine, is the dominant player in the search market. Its search engine provides results to consumers with the help of its ranking systems, which are composed of a broad set of algorithms, that sort through web pages in its search index to find the most appropriate results in quick time. Its search algorithms consider several factors, including the words and expressions of a user’s query, relevance and usability of pages, expertise of sources, and the user’s location and settings, according to the firm.

While Google captures a significant chunk of the general search market, there are alternative search engines such as Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo available for users to explore. The latter, a privacy-focused search engine, claims it does not collect or share users’ personal information.

In January, market leader Google generated 61.4% of all core search queries in the U.S., according to database company Statista. During the same period of time, Microsoft sites handled a quarter of all search queries in the U.S.

As the algorithms used to deliver results would vary from one search engine to another, when a user inputs a query, the results would also differ. Moreover, results from different users would be rarely similar, even when searching for the same things, since the algorithms take into account multiple factors, like their location.

Algorithms are often built using historical data and for specific functions. Once developed, they go through frequent updates from the companies to enhance the quality of search engine results presented to users. Most large search engine providers also bank on machine learning to automatically improve their users’ search experience, essentially by identifying patterns in previous decisions to make future ones.