The problem with modern search.

Consider this… You are looking for a service to generate invoices. You are a startup so you don’t really have any money, you thought there must be a free tool out there that can do the job.

You know about huge accounting software companies like Xero and Sage & they do invoicing but it won’t be free, so you discount them for now.

So off to Mr Google to have a bit of a search. You type in …

“Free UK invoicing software”

You hit enter…

The first four results are “sponsored”. Two of them are not free at all. Hmmm.

Now the rest of the results.

Oh! That’s a shock. Not a single company being returned (by Google) has a completely free service on offer. Some firms say “get started for free” some don’t mention being free at all.

Right, It must be the search words i'm using. I change them...

“Completely free UK invoicing software“

Oh, same results.

The same non free results. There must be something wrong with my laptop. I try again…

“100% UK free invoicing software”

Oooh, some different results this time, but one of them seems to be some sort of server software & another an online generator app, which seems worse that what we have at the moment.

Most of the results are not free at all. They have a free tier, which means a cut down version of the subscription. I'm definitaly going to generate more than 20 invoices or have more that 5 customers. I won't be wanting to delete records in order to remain on the free tier. That doesn't make sense. Invoicing is not a short-term proposition, surely these firms know this.

It’s not an unrealistic expectation for a free invoicing service. Email is free, social media apps are free, instant messenger apps are free. We get free IP phone calls. I don’t have a single paid for app on my phone. These apps make money via other means.

So its a shock I can't find one to be honest

Cummon Mr Google, show us the free services that are really free, not just the nearly free, or the ones with the word “Free” tucked away in the description. All I’m getting is mainly paid listings and review websites offering top 10 ”free invoicing software” comprising of the same set of companies as the Google results. How is this a fair set of search results?

Time to jump ship to another search engine. Let’s try Brave Search.

Nope…same set of companies and one new one “Crunch” which is only free for 14 days. Boo. I’m getting lots of results but most are not free.

Last try. I swap to Ecosia Search. They are green and like trees; surely they won’t be corrupted with the lure of shareholder returns…..will they?

...

Mostly the same set of invoicing and accounting companies. Very disappointed.

What Have I learned today?

Well, if you type in the word “free” (plus search term) into any popular search engine …don’t expect it to understand what the word actually means. Search doesn’t search any more. It looks at the companies with the largest ad spend and returns them, regardless of whether they meet the search criteria.

So, the market is tied up, a closed shop, a rigged game …unless you have the dosh. As Will McAvoy said so famously in the Newsroom.

“Google is not the greatest search engine in the world anymore”

Which bring us to a message from our Sponsor.

Envoyce is actually free. Not nearly free or slightly free but 100% free. That’s a shock isn’t it.

Try Envoyce Free & Open Invoicing today.