These days, search engine results are filled with spam content, according to a new paper from a team of researchers in Germany. And it's making it harder for people to access helpful information online — the core function of the internet. The research focused on product reviews, highlighting significant issues with affiliate links—paid-for links leading to sellers—overrepresented in search results. Affiliates exploit users' trust in search engines, compromising the quality of product reviews. Google claims improvements but acknowledges the narrow focus of the study. As AI-generated content proliferates, the problem is expected to worsen. While Google asserts ongoing enhancements, researchers suggest the issue merits attention without proposing a clear solution, acknowledging the complexity of balancing legitimate affiliate marketing with content quality concerns.