When we search for something in Google we are immediately provided thousands of potential webpages related to our search. Some search results appear before others because Google has an in depth scoring system that allows them to shuffle the order of pages based on relevance to the search. In an essence, Google begins to ask a ton of questions. Examples of the questions they pose are “How many times does the keyword appear on the site?”, “Is the keyword in the title?”, “Does the page contain synonyms to the keyword?”, and “What’s the websites quality like?”. They take their plethora of questions and place them into a formula that was created by Google to get a page rank. Once they have an overall score they are able to appropriately order the search results to best cater to the users initial search. This may sound like a long process, but this all happens in less than two seconds.
Google Ads and AdSense services are an innovative marketing opportunity for businesses that enables them to utilize Google to disseminate awareness of their product to the right person at the right time. By utilizing search advertising, companies can distribute ads to individuals who are conducting activities online that are conducive of a potential customer. For example, if I am a taxi driver in Nashville, my ad would come up if someone is searching a trip to Nashville. It gets the information to the people who actually need it. These services often run off of cost per click, meaning advertisers are charged a rate every time that their advertisement is clicked. Google Ads and AdSense could be extremely beneficial to a companies online advertising effort because it levels the playing field. A small business is able to get their ads directly alongside much larger competitors. Additionally, and probably the biggest benefit to these services, is that they are highly measurable. A company can know exactly how many views, clicks, and interaction they are actually getting within minutes. It is very tangible for a business to be able to calculate the ROI on an advertisement that they are running. This is contrary to more primitive marketing methods that had more arbitrary feedback.
Our world is becoming more technologically innovative every day. Today a lot of homeowners are using smart devices to transform the way their home operates. Whether it’s the Amazon Echo or Google Home, these devices allow homeowners to manipulate lights in the house, play music, search the web, and lock the doors all by talking in the vicinity of these devices. It is because of devices like these that listen to the speech of the consumer that an increased concern for privacy has emerged. Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center describes websites that we access as information sponges and states, “There’s a big question about how much privacy consumers have to give up in order to visit or shop on company websites.” (Aspatore 2022) These type of voice activated devices are always listening via passive listening features. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are recording every word we say but it does raise potential concerns for the protection of our conversations. “In order for voice assistants to respond to their various wake words, they need to be ‘always on’ and listening.” (Sweeney 2022) It is this constant state of listening that raises the concern of potential eavesdropping by companies like Google. Additionally, their is a large amount of research indicating that minority groups are undergoing higher levels of surveillance that result in “harassment, discrimination, economic penalties, and legal persecution.” (Sweeney 2022) Some preventative measures can be taken that would allow for increased privacy. The first and most effective measure that can be taken is to opt to not adopt. (Sweeney 2022) Their is a strong potential that owning these types of devices could result in issues concerning privacy, so for many the decision to not equip their home with them would be the most effective method in combating this. Finally, if you do decide to infiltrate your home with smart devices despite the potential hazards, you can mitigate the privacy concerns by going into the settings and manipulating them to protect you. For example, in the Alexa app you can change the settings so that the device doesn’t save audio recordings. (Teague 2021) By changing the settings of these devices you can create a certain level of protection for the consumer.
Google seems to be an endless spring of knowledge, however everything that we find in these incredible technological innovations was developed by the human mind which God created. We look at the vastness of the internet and are in awe, but this doesn’t compare to the vastness of God’s wisdom, knowledge, and power. In Isaiah 40:28 it says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” God is everlasting, meaning he never dies, never goes out of style, and is immortal. God is the Creator, meaning he spoke every single plant, animal, mountain, and human into existence with his words. God’s wisdom is unsearchable, meaning we can never fully uncover and understand the vastness of his mind. Google is searchable. Their is a limit to what google can find, search, and uncover. With God their are no limits.
