Some netizens reported that the fees for handling Turkish visas on the e-visa website are more expensive than those in official website. Besides Baidu, Bing and 360 search websites also have similar problems. At present, Baidu has removed the relevant websites for handling Turkish visas. The industry believes that the bidding ranking system allows companies to promote through payment, without putting the consumer experience first.
A few days ago, Yan Feng, a professor at Fudan University, applied for a visa at the top-ranked website "Turkish Visa Center" when searching for "Turkish Visa" in Baidu, which cost 129 dollars. However, he later discovered that this is just an agency website. The Turkish visa fee for official website is only $61, and the electronic visa processing is very simple, so there is no need for a third party to do it. At present, Baidu has removed relevant websites. However, there are still related problems in searching for visas from other countries. In addition to Baidu, there are similar problems in Bing and 360 search websites.
survey
Baidu search agency visa fee is twice as expensive as official website.
According to Yan Feng, he had a plan to travel to Turkey in November and needed a visa, so he searched for "Turkish visa" on Baidu. In the search results, the top two websites are both named "Turkish Visa Center", and its website "www.turkey-onlinevisa.org" looks very formal, with no other superfluous words, and it ends with. org, which is the institutional suffix.
"I thought it was official website, so I did it from there, $129. Later, it was found that the real official website was the third search result ‘ Electronic visa application system of the Republic of Turkey ’ , as long as 61 dollars. " Yan Feng said. Comparing official website and the agency website, the charge of $61 and $129 is more than double that of the former.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily entered the agency website with a fee of $129 and found that the top of the website read "Electronic Visa Application System of the Republic of Turkey" and there was no company name; The obvious area in the middle reads the three steps of "applying for an electronic visa for the Republic of Turkey", and the green button can "apply immediately".
At the bottom, there is a small print as a "disclaimer", which introduces the background of the company in official and awkward words: "The company is not affiliated with the Turkish government. Www.turkey-onlinevisa.org is committed to assisting individuals and enterprises to obtain their travel permits so that they can enter Turkey and stay for a short time. The service fee includes all kinds of help, assistance and government fees. If you want to apply through the government official website, you can apply here, although you will not be able to get our professional assistance and experience. " It can be said that netizens who haven’t been to the official website can’t tell at all. The website is a company agency website.
Why does the website charge $129? According to the website, "our experts charge a service fee of $60 and provide professional help and assistance. The service fee does not include the government handling fee, which is between $25 and $60 according to different nationalities. " However, because Turkey is an "electronic visa", that is to say, you don’t need to submit any materials in paper version, and you don’t need to go in person. You only need to submit your personal information online to get the corresponding visa, so the whole process is very simple. Most tourists can get visas without a third party at all, which means that if consumers are informed, there is a high probability that they will not choose this website for processing.
press sb for an interview
Multi-visa high-fee agency websites are still in the forefront.
At present, Baidu has removed the website. The reporter of Beiqing Daily searched for "Turkish visa" yesterday, and the first result was the official website. Baidu also said that the previous agency website also clearly marked the word "advertising". According to Yan Feng’s introduction and netizens’ verification, the previous agency website did specify the word advertisement, "I didn’t read it carefully when time was tight … … People are always negligent, right? In addition, Baidu’s ‘ Advertising ’ The two words are small and placed in the lower right, Google ‘ Advertising ’ It is placed in front of the searched website name, and the box is eye-catching. " Yan Feng responded like this.
In this regard, some netizens said, "It is normal to have advertisements, but can it be placed after the official search results?" Or mark the official website with eye-catching logo, which is convenient for netizens to identify. "Baidu is too important. We must Baidu before we do anything. I hope Baidu can treat our trust in it well." Netizens said.
It is worth noting that the survey shows that although the recommendation problem of visa websites in Turkey has been solved, there are still similar problems in searching visa websites in other countries. Especially in countries that implement electronic visas, because visa applications are made through the internet, on the one hand, applicants will not deal with the agency company again after paying the fees in one lump sum, so the agency success rate is high; On the other hand, applying for an e-visa doesn’t need to do anything on behalf of the company. They basically don’t need any cost except maintaining the website, and it is very easy to make money.
For example, when searching for "Malaysia visa" in Baidu, the first five results are all agency websites clearly marked as "advertisements": "What materials do you need for a visa to Malaysia? Handle nearby ","Malaysia e-visa-2-hour express visa ","Malaysia immigrant visa is very simple-list of immigration strategies ","how many kinds of visas are there in Malaysia "and" Malaysia free visa ". Below the advertisement, it is not the official website for handling Malaysian visas, but the "Detailed Description of the Latest Malaysian Tourist Visa for Dry Goods 2018" and Baidu Encyclopedia’s "Malaysia Visa" entry. Article 8 is the official "official website of Malaysian e-visa", and some of the previewed website contents are in English. In fact, the content of the official website has been translated into Chinese after clicking on it.
The fees of these websites are much more expensive than the official ones. According to reports, at present, there are two ways to apply for Malaysian e-visa, one is 280 yuan for eVISA, which can stay for less than 30 days, and the other is 160 yuan for eNTRI, which stays for less than 15 days. The staff of the website ranked first in Baidu search results said that the cost of applying for a Malaysian visa here is 390 yuan per person, which is higher than the official cost from 110 yuan to 230 yuan. When asked what this fee includes, the staff introduced that "it is the overall fee for visa processing" and did not mention unofficial visa fees including service fees. The second item in the search results clearly marked "Malaysian e-visa fee needs 338 yuan" on Baidu page, which is 178 yuan higher than the official price in 58 yuan.
Searching for "Australian visa", the first five items are marked with "advertising", including "three-year visa for Australia", "free travel for Australia", "XX visa channel" and "what materials do I need to apply for an Australian visa?" "I don’t know if I lost a big Australian immigrant visa". Article 6 is the official website "Visit the website of Australian Visa Center".
The second-ranked "Australian Free Travel" recommends a "lazy visa" with a fee of 988 yuan. At first glance, this price is similar to the official fee, and it is guaranteed by SF Express. The official website stipulates that 720 yuan visa fee plus 193 yuan service fee is 913 yuan, and 65 yuan express fee is 978 yuan if you want to mail it. However, if you look carefully, if you want to apply for a "lazy visa" at this price, the premise is to buy its tourism products, starting at a minimum of 4,500 yuan per person. If you don’t buy tourism products, the visa price is 1280 yuan per person, which is more expensive than 300 yuan.
pay close attention
360, "Bing" and so on also have similar problems.
It is worth noting that Baidu is not the only search website with similar problems. Some netizens said that they had been "pitted" by relevant businesses before handling the US visa on Bing, but in the end, after communication, the money was returned.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily searched for "American visa" on Bing, and the first four articles were advertisements, the fifth was "related English search results", and the sixth was the official website. In the first advertising website, the fee for a visa to the United States started at 1299 yuan, while the official fee was 160 dollars, about 1129 yuan, less than that of 180 yuan.
On the 360 search, searching for "Malaysia visa", the first five items are advertisements, and there are many pictures and texts, which occupy a lot of page space, such as the first item "Professional handling of Malaysia’s second home" and "recommendation: Malaysian immigrants, overseas passports; Popular: Southeast Asian immigrants, Malaysian education and so on, occupying about 7 lines. Article 5, "Best Malaysia Visa Collection", is similar to an e-commerce collection. Eight businesses selling Malaysia visas on Taobao are listed here, and each one has a larger picture with product descriptions below, such as "Malaysia Visa Personal Travel to Kuala Lumpur on the Immigration website", "Beijing Sending Visa to handle Malaysia nationwide" and "Malaysia Visa Personal Travel on the Immigration website". Article 6 is a 360-encyclopedia Malaysian visa. Article 7 is the official website.
analyse
Why do Baidu search websites frequently show shanzhai results?
Why do you search for some keywords on Baidu, and there are always some advertisements, even misleading advertisements?
Many insiders said that Baidu is a commercial website first, and as a profitable listed company, Baidu’s bidding ranking promotion system is a source of its income, and the bidding ranking system allows companies to promote their websites by paying for Baidu search. According to Baidu official website Information, after opening this service, customers can self-help select keywords and set launch plans. When search users click on the customer’s promotion information to visit the corporate website, the system will charge a click fee from the pre-stored promotion fee. The price of each click is determined by the customer according to his actual promotion needs, and the customer can control the promotion cost by adjusting the launch budget. And if a netizen clicks every time, Baidu can charge advertising fees according to this.
Secondly, Baidu, as a platform, did not put the consumer experience first. In the interview, many consumers made it clear that advertisements are not excluded, but they hope to put them behind the official website or have more eye-catching signs and reminders. However, in the above case, Baidu put the website of visa agency in the first and second positions, and there was no particularly eye-catching word "advertisement"; Putting Fuda Hospital in the forefront of the keyword "Fudan University Affiliated Hospital" and confusing it with it failed to achieve the promised "top three hospital protection", which brought troubles to consumers and weakened consumers’ right to know.
During the interview, many insiders stressed that at present, Baidu has removed the above-mentioned problematic websites from the search results, but one or two websites have been removed, and there are more problematic websites; Exposing one to deal with another is not a long-term solution. Baidu needs to think more from the user’s point of view, and how to combine user convenience with better commercialization.
Text/reporter Wen Wei
related news
Baidu search is caught in the storm of "hospital impersonation"
In addition to the visa storm, Baidu has recently faced the problem of "hospital impersonation". According to CCTV reports, many patients seeking medical treatment in Shanghai searched for "Affiliated Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai" through Baidu, and went to the "Fuda Hospital" ranked in the top of the search results for treatment. After spending a lot of money to see a doctor, they did not get better, and then went to the top three hospitals for follow-up, and the diagnosis results were quite different from those of "Fuda Hospital".
For example, a couple in Anhui brought their children to Shanghai for medical treatment because of an abnormal bump on the back of their children’s head. Under the recommendation of local doctors, they originally wanted to take their children to the affiliated hospital of Fudan University, but when they searched for "Affiliated Hospital of Fudan University" by Baidu, they jumped out of the so-called "Fuda Hospital". Under its guidance, they went to Fuda Hospital for treatment. As a result, the child was diagnosed with "hemangioma" and spent more than 15,000 yuan on the so-called "imported needle".
However, after expensive treatment, the child’s illness was not solved, so the couple found the authentic "Fudan University Affiliated Hospital" after several twists and turns. The doctor in this 3A hospital told them that the protrusion behind the child’s head is only lymph nodes, which is a normal phenomenon in the child’s development. It can be recovered naturally without treatment at all.
It’s not just the above-mentioned patient who was misled. Another patient said that he wanted to go to the Otolaryngology Hospital affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai because of paroxysmal dizziness. The link that jumped out after Baidu search led to the Otolaryngology Department of Shanghai Fuda Hospital. When the relevant customer service staff learned that the patient was about to arrive at the Otolaryngology Hospital affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, they gave the address of Shanghai Fuda Hospital and guided him to Shanghai Fuda Hospital for treatment.
Another patient said that he wanted to go to the Eye, Otolaryngology Hospital affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai to see rhinitis, but when he searched for keywords such as "Shanghai Fudan University Otolaryngology" and "Shanghai Fudan University Affiliated" on Baidu, the first message that appeared was "Fuda Hospital". The latter charges very high, according to one or 10 minutes of treatment, 10 minutes of 100 yuan, "As soon as I checked his nose-washing medicine, the online published price was more than 100 yuan, but he charged me more than 200 yuan, twice the price."
In response to the above incidents, the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Supervision Agency recently met with Baidu Shanghai Branch and the person in charge of the medical section to communicate and talk. Bei Wen, deputy director of the Supervision Office of Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission, pointed out that Baidu, as a successful Internet company, should pay more attention to corporate self-discipline and social responsibility while providing convenience for social life.
Baidu responded that after investigation, the reason for this misleading problem is that the hospital name of Shanghai Fuda Hospital has certain semantic similarity with the abbreviation of the relevant affiliated hospital of Shanghai Fudan University, which misled netizens’ choice of medical treatment. At present, the former has been excluded from the search results. Baidu also said that it will continue to promote the brand protection project of public hospitals. At present, it has protected the search results of related affiliated hospitals of Fudan University in Shanghai, involving more than 1,200 related search keywords. In response to this problem, Baidu has once again expanded its brand protection keyword database, and will cooperate with the competent departments of industry and commerce to follow up the processing strategy.
It is not the first time that Baidu’s medical search has been criticized. In May this year, Baidu faced this problem directly and explained the medical advertisement review standards in detail. Xiang Hailong, president of Baidu Search, said, "Baidu is determined not to allow hospitals to use ‘ The top three hospitals ’ Advertise in the name and name. " Search for keywords of major diseases such as cancer and AIDS, and there will be no advertisements for medical services. In addition, Baidu has added search risk tips for more than 30,000 medical industry search words.
At that time, Baidu said that it had protected 1,000 well-known 3A hospitals from advertisements, and planned to complete the first exhibition of official website protection for 16,000 public hospitals and authoritative medical research institutions by the end of July 2018. In the future, a series of measures will be listed to increase efforts to improve the quality of medical advertisements and medical search results.