Comment by crazygringo
9 months ago
But in your example, Google would almost immediately learn that sophisticated users click on the current #2 link, and then make that the #1 link for everyone. It's really easy to do statistically. The bias for the top link gets removed, that's always the first step.
Unsophisticated users are not negatively affecting the quality of results.
How exactly do you know that people are clicking on the #2 link because they are "sophisticated" and not because they simply prefer #2 for personal reasons?
I don't even understand your question. They're the same, by your own definition. You said unsophisticated people will just click the top link, and I'm assuming that means some of them will click the #2 link as well just because it's there -- since people often open the top n links. But if they're making a choice based on the link description, rather than just because it's there, then by your definition they're "sophisticated". They're clicking it for personal reasons, because they personally evaluated the quality of the link description.
I'm talking about "personal" reasons like you work for the company behind link #2 and not because #2 is actually better than #1.