Major search platforms may strategically obfuscate search results to increase their profits, a new study from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business finds.

By influencing organic search results and placing what they believe to be the “best” products in sponsored positions, platforms such as Amazon, Google and Booking.com significantly boost their profits and, in some cases, improve consumer outcomes.

“They make unpaid listings less informative, so consumers either buy the sponsored result or spend more time searching. Either way, the platform wins,” said Marcel Preuss, professor in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management and co-author of “Search Platforms: Big Data and Sponsored Positions,” which published Jan. 13 in The Economic Journal.

Thomas Jungbauer, also a professor in the Johnson School; Maarten Janssen, professor at the University of Vienna; and Cole Williams, professor at the University of Nebraska co-authored the paper, which offers a strategic perspective into how platforms design rankings, incorporate sponsored slots and use their vast behavioral and demographic information to influence consumer decisions. The stakes are high: Digital advertising is worth nearly $836 billion worldwide, and search advertising represents about $330 billion of that total.

The research team found that by making organic results harder to interpret through randomization, inconsistent ranking cues or by lowering certain quality signals, platforms drive consumers toward two likely actions: purchasing the sponsored product at the top; or continuing to browse through additional listings. Both behaviors increase platform revenue, whether through paid ad placements or commissions on organic sales.

One of the study’s most counterintuitive findings challenges assumptions about digital advertising: Sponsored positions can improve consumer experiences. Because platforms rely on deep datasets including purchase histories, click patterns, past searches and demographic indicators, the product placed in the top sponsored slot often aligns closely with what the consumer is most likely to want.

In environments with thousands of possible items, such as searches for “running shoes” or “hotels in Miami,” consumers gain little information about any single product. As product variety expands, consumers increasingly depend on the platform’s ranking signals and algorithms. Given this, sponsored positions often function as helpful shortcuts. Removing them, the authors argue, may make the search experience worse, forcing users to spend more time evaluating less-relevant organic listings and potentially leading to poorer matches.

“If search becomes too confusing, consumers will abandon the platform,” Jungbauer said. “To maintain balance, platforms may create intermediate ‘premium positions’ or high-visibility slots near the top that feature somewhat better products but still preserve ambiguity.”

These premium positions act as “breadcrumbs” – offering just enough information to keep users engaged while maintaining the profitability of sponsored ads. Their influence is substantial: On Amazon, more than 80% of clicks occur on the first page, underscoring the power of top-ranked spots in shaping decisions.

Overall, the platform’s ranking architecture of sponsored, premium and organic listings works as a coordinated system to extract maximum revenue across channels.

While sponsored positions have potential benefits, the study warns that the greater danger lies in platform market power. If consumers lack viable alternatives, platforms can increase obfuscation, downgrade organic results and funnel users toward higher-priced or less suitable options without fear of losing business.

Limiting platform dominance could create stronger incentives to maintain transparency and quality within search rankings, the researchers said.

“As regulators worldwide debate how to govern digital markets, this study offers a fresh message: The real danger may not be the ads you see, but the power of the platform behind them,” Jungbauer said.

Sarah Magnus-Sharpe is director of public relations and communications at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.