results, which juiced sales. When the Times uncovered this
optimization, JCPenney promptly felt the wrath of God. The company
was banished to oblivion: second page on Google’s search results, the
equivalent of being left on the far bank of the Jordan River.^22
One of God’s awesome powers is the knowledge not only of what
we do, but also what we want to do. We may not have confided in
anyone, but as far as many believers are concerned, God knows that as
we walk through the mall we lust for a pair of Tory Burch Jolie pumps
or Bose QuietComfort headphones. He knows you have a thing for
girls with tattoos. Those are temptations God witnesses and registers.
We signal our secret intentions with our queries and provide the
Google search engine supernatural power in advertising. Traditional
marketing sorted us into tribes: Latinos, hicks, retirees, sports fans,
soccer moms, and so on. Within those tribes, we are thought to be the
same. In 2002, every single rich white suburbanite wore cargo pants,
listened to Moby, and drove an Audi. But with Google, our queries—
along with the photos, emails, and all the other data we provide—
identify us as individuals with distinct problems, goals, and desires.
This intelligence gives God a leg up in the advertising business. It can
serve up ads that are more relevant, more benevolent—tailored to our
personal happiness.
Much of marketing is the art (disguised as science) of how to best
change behavior. It wants to make us buy this vs. that, think of this as
cool vs. that as lame. Google leaves the hard, expensive stuff to others
and just gives the people what they want after they’ve raised their
digital hand and said, “I want something like this.” Even better, Google
pairs people with companies, via AdWords, before they may even
know what they want (fly Delta) when signaling their intent, via search
queries about tours of the Acropolis, or the slightest curiosity about
“Greek islands.”
The Old God
If Google is the god of information in the internet age, the closest thing
we had in the old economy, with maybe the exception of the evening
news, is the New York Times. Its longtime motto—“All the News