Google Search now punishes sites with bad manners

December 1, 2010 By Molly McHugh

After a company is outed for intentionally abusing customers to boost its search results, Google is altering is algorithms to take consumer experience into account.

The New York Times recently ran a story about a woman terrorized by an online company she bought from and tried returning eyeglasses to. The company, DecorMyEyes, was placed in prime Google search location – at the top, but under the sponsored links.

Google caught wind of the story and in response will be altering how its search algorithm works. In an interview with the NYT, Vitaly Borker, owner and operator of DecorMyEyes, candidly discussed how he used bad press to drive business. He found that the more users ranted about their experience with his company online (and rant they did), the higher his site appeared in Google search results.

“I’ve exploited this opportunity because it works. No matter where they post their negative comments, it helps my return on investment. So I decided, why not use that negativity to my advantage?”

Apparently, Borker failed to realize an article in a little known publication called The New York Times would catch Google’s attention. But it did, and he can now kiss his search result status goodbye.

In a blog post today, Google announced it would now be adding user experience to its ranking algorithm, and sites that can’t deliver will start to fall. The search giant was also quick to explain that this was a somewhat isolated incident, but that the solution is now live.

Google was careful to explain in the blog post that there is no permanent fix for this type of thing, and that those who want to manipulate the system will find loopholes. For this reason, the company decided not to include any specific information on how its algorithm was changed.

Showing 2 comments

doobersnax at 7:32am 2nd December 2010 elvenrunelord said: "Consistently, I learn more about a good or service from its negative reviews than I do the positive ones and I trust them more and here is why: You give a person good service and they might tell 1 or 2 people, you give a person bad service and they are likely to tell everyone they know. People share bad news more than they do good news and the negative review is a great way for consumers to spread the word about an abusive company. " While I agree that customer comments are a good resource, this statement is exactly why they are also not entirely reliable. If 100 people receive great service/product and only 5 people write a positive review, but 10 people receive less than their expectations, and all write a negative review, the resulting score is going to be disingenuous. I believe for most people, we expect a product/service to meet or exceed expectations, and don't think there's a need to write a positive review for something that we EXPECT. When our expectation aren't met, however, most people find an immediate desire to tell everyone, even if, perhaps, our expectations of a product/service weren't correct to begin with. I see many reviews in which the persons expectations were not in line with the advertised functionality of a product, or an expected outcome of a service. As always take everything you read, especially on the internet, with a grain of salt. Besides the ridiculous company in the article, most companies aren't trying to purposefully mislead or scam it's customers, at least not if they want to stay in business.
elvenrunelord at 7:40pm 1st December 2010 I hope google is careful to no disregard negative reviews altogether because they are an important source of information for consumers who are considering a product or service. Consistently, I learn more about a good or service from its negative reviews than I do the positive ones and I trust them more and here is why: You give a person good service and they might tell 1 or 2 people, you give a person bad service and they are likely to tell everyone they know. People share bad news more than they do good news and the negative review is a great way for consumers to spread the word about an abusive company. Without knowing more, I cannot comment further.