Google failed to show search results for any “made in USA” or “made in America” product searches for the past few days on its Shopping platform, thereby disallowing users to find and buy items that have specifically been made in the United States.
Google said the search problem was a mistake attributable to errors in its server systems.
“Entering a location in Shopping search will help a user find products for sale in a particular area, and will map to those when possible,” a Google spokesperson said in an email to the Washington Examiner.
“As such, the ‘made in the USA’ query was locating the desired products for sale in an especially broad location (the ‘USA’,) which caused an error in our systems. We’re working to resolve this,” the spokesperson added.
The search error was brought to Google’s attention by a request for comment by the Washington Examiner, and the tech giant claimed the problem has been resolved.
Google Shopping searches for multiple products “made in USA,” continue not to yield search results and cause server errors, according to a review by the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
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Similar Google Shopping searches made for the exact same products but “made in China” or “made in Mars” yielded normal search results with no server error despite those places also being considered “especially broad locations.”
Google said searches for “made in USA” products led to internal problems because its servers attempt to map out every place that products are available in the U.S., but the company does not conduct the same product mapping in China, explaining the difference in search results.
Search engine experts who study and work with platforms such as Google regularly were stumped as to why this occurred.
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“That sounds ridiculous. … Code is funny. It can do weird things. I have no access to Google’s code or data so I cannot say for sure,” said Barry Schwartz, founder of the Search Engine Roundtable, a website that presents research and reports on various major search engines. Schwartz is also CEO of RustyBrick, a New York-based web consulting firm that provides various services, including search engine optimization and search engine placement.
