Rigging Google

[Theodoric]

Quote from "That was nearly a disaster" thread

'I just did a google for "cartoon animals" looking for pictures for the kids
talk about porn I never realised there was so much of it. luckily I noticed the website address before I clicked anything.'

He was only too right; wall to wall porn listings. As the porn industry is supposedly at the forefront of many Internet techniques, can I take it that they have managed to completely pervert the rankings of the Google search engine?

[Mark W]

Originally Posted by Theodoric

Quote from "That was nearly a disaster" thread

'I just did a google for "cartoon animals" looking for pictures for the kids
talk about porn I never realised there was so much of it. luckily I noticed the website address before I clicked anything.'

He was only too right; wall to wall porn listings. As the porn industry is supposedly at the forefront of many Internet techniques, can I take it that they have managed to completely pervert the rankings of the Google search engine?

[kronas]

i cant believe people dont know about this its been going on for years

[Alan Waddington]

I understand that weblog trackback has broken google's PageRank system & the p0rnographers have taken full advantage.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/33448.html

[KingPhoenix]

was there really a need to start another thread about it????

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by kronas

i cant believe people dont know about this its been going on for years

Don't worry I'm sure the BBC news technology section will report it in a few months, when there are no more 'internet surveys' to report.

[downquark1]

Can someone explain what's happening -this sounds interesting

[MetaWraith]

Despite page ranking being broken,google is still a darn good general purpose engine to use. But like all tools, one gets more out of it when learns to use it properly. ie use the advanced search, use phrases, use include and exclude.

www.searchenginewatch.com is a good place to keep on the state of various search engines etc.

[Alan Waddington]

Originally Posted by downquark1

Can someone explain what's happening -this sounds interesting

Try here:
http://e-comm.webopedia.com/TERM/L/link_farming.html

[Theodoric]

Originally Posted by Alan Waddington

I understand that weblog trackback has broken google's PageRank system & the p0rnographers have taken full advantage.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/33448.html

Very interesting. Putting -trackback into the Google search does seem to work. Can you amplify on this?

[Theodoric]

Originally Posted by KingPhoenix

was there really a need to start another thread about it????

I think so. I'm a great believer in trying to keep on topic (and then failing miserably, myself). I feel that the original thread was heading toward filtering pornography. I wanted to concentrate on the specific issue of 'can Google be rigged', hence the new thread.

[Alan Waddington]

Originally Posted by Theodoric

I think so. I'm a great believer in trying to keep on topic (and then failing miserably, myself). I feel that the original thread was heading toward filtering pornography. I wanted to concentrate on the specific issue of 'can Google be rigged', hence the new thread.

It certainly works to cross-link sites. I have cross linked the website for the radio club i belong to to Hampshire cousin & rsgb websites and get the top 2 listings when appropriate keywords are entered e.g. 'farnborough radio society' . And the next 2 listings are pages on the cousin site that point to my site.

Originally Posted by Theodoric

I think so. I'm a great believer in trying to keep on topic (and then failing miserably, myself). I feel that the original thread was heading toward filtering pornography. I wanted to concentrate on the specific issue of 'can Google be rigged', hence the new thread.

Seems fair to me.

So, at the risk of asking stupid questions, does anyone have an idiot's guide to avoiding the typical web-author's attempts to rig search engines?

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by MetaWraith

Despite page ranking being broken,google is still a darn good general purpose engine to use. But like all tools, one gets more out of it when learns to use it properly. ie use the advanced search, use phrases, use include and exclude.

.

Exactly!

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by towny

Seems fair to me.

So, at the risk of asking stupid questions, does anyone have an idiot's guide to avoiding the typical web-author's attempts to rig search engines?

Use the advanced Google search?