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October 26, 2006
Google comments on political Googlebombing
We reported here about the idea of googlebombing results to steer people on the web to the desired articles (good or bad) about candidates. The NYT reports on Google's reaction:
“We don’t condone the practice of Google bombing, or any other action that seeks to affect the integrity of our search results,” said Ricardo Reyes, a Google spokesman. “A site’s ranking in Google’s search results is automatically determined by computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query.”
Earler in the article they potential success of said tactics are discussed:
But it is far from clear whether this particular campaign will be successful. Much depends on the extent of political discussion already tied to a particular candidate’s name.It will be harder to manipulate results for searches of the name of a candidate who has already been widely covered in the news and widely discussed in the blogosphere, because so many links and so many pages already refer to that particular name. Search results on lesser-known candidates, with a smaller body of references and links, may be easier to change.
My own opinion on the tactic is unchanged, however I am proud to say that this search result was not manipulated at all.
via Hotair whose description of the tactic as "evil" is over the top to me, however it fits the topic of this article there to a t.
Update: The hotair link does have one point that is worth repeating:
…If Bowers and his search-challenged minions actually can manipulate the search results in time for the election? That’s a strike at the heart of Google’s core product itself.
I think that such manipulation of the product and every other search on any platform gets manipulated every day. With money involved anyone who thinks this isn't being done doesn't understand human nature.
Posted by Peter at October 26, 2006 06:41 PM