• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Google Imposes "Death Penalty" on BMW's website

M

MikeMike

Lifer
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22749-2027523,00.html

Google confirmed today that it has applied its own version of a "death penalty" to BMW's German website, after the carmaker apparently attempted to boost its popularity ranking artificially on the internet search engine.

A Google spokesman told Times Online: "We cannot tolerate websites trying to manipulate search results as we aim to provide users with relevant and objective search results.

"Google may temporarily or permanently ban any site or site authors that engage in tactics designed to distort their rankings or mislead users in order to preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results."

Google has imposed similar sanctions against other companies in the past. Such actions, which severely lower the internet profile of a site, have become known as "Google death penalties". They see Google reset its search engine so that when a computer user searches for terms linked to a particular company, they do not return direct links to the company?s website.

Google has a policy of re-including sites once it is sure they are no longer violating its guidelines.

The latest move comes at a time when Google is under pressure to revive its reputation for impartiality.

It's recent acquisition of a 5 per cent stake in AOL, the internet portal company, for $1 billion was accompanied by reports that the Google search engine will grant AOL pages a "preferred" status. Analysts said that move risked undermining public trust in the Google brand.

The company has also faced fierce criticism in the West for entering the Chinese market, a move which saw Google accept Beijing's restrictions on free speech.

The BMW action was revealed when Matt Cutts, a blogger claiming to be a Google software engineer, wrote that the company appeared to have used underhand practices to ensure that searches for BMW and "gebrauchtwagen" ? used cars ? would return the carmaker?s website first.

The practice ? known as search engine optimisation ? is frequently used by webmasters. But engineers at Google are said to have taken exception to the methods apparently being used by BMW in Germany.

Mr Cutts wrote that the firm had written "gebrauchtwagen" 42 times on its "doorway" page ? used to include terms likely to catch surfers seeking used cars. In response, Google has moved to reduce the website?s PageRank to zero, meaning that search results for BMW in Germany no longer yield it as the top selection.

Mr Cutts wrote that the practice was a violation of Google?s guidelines, although it is unclear whether BMW was aware that it was doing anything wrong.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Why are the people against reposts, reposting "repost"? That seems ironic...
Click to expand...

Its to let the poster and other people know that the news was posted by somone else first and if they want to discuss it to do so in the other thread.
n00b. 😉
 
Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Why are the people against reposts, reposting "repost"? That seems ironic...
Click to expand...

Its to let the poster and other people know that the news was posted by somone else first and if they want to discuss it to do so in the other thread.
n00b. 😉
Click to expand...

Yeah... the first "repost" comment serves that purpose... but why do more people continue to repost the repost announcement? That's what I'm getting at.
 
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Why are the people against reposts, reposting "repost"? That seems ironic...
Click to expand...

Its to let the poster and other people know that the news was posted by somone else first and if they want to discuss it to do so in the other thread.
n00b. 😉
Click to expand...

Yeah... the first "repost" comment serves that purpose... but why do more people continue to repost the repost announcement? That's what I'm getting at.
Click to expand...

Eh Don't mind GLGatsby, he is a bit slow.
 
It's recent acquisition of a 5 per cent stake in AOL, the internet portal company, for $1 billion was accompanied by reports that the Google search engine will grant AOL pages a "preferred" status. Analysts said that move risked undermining public trust in the Google brand.
Click to expand...
I find it funny that more people arn't talking about this. I know that if the top pages returned in one of my searches nets AOL pages, I'm going to be pissed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top