

Google demotes Chrome in search results over pay-for-post promo - ed2417
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57351705-93/google-demotes-chrome-in-search-results-over-pay-for-post-promo/

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feral
"During the 60 days, the PageRank of www.google.com/chrome will also be
lowered to reflect the fact that we also won’t trust outgoing links from that
page."

That was the strangest part, for me. Google clearly _can_ trust outgoing links
from www.google.com/chrome.

Its clear they had no intention of gaming their own system with this campaign.
But they obviously feel the need to act in a 'beyond reproach' way, to avoid
the accusation of conflicts-of-interest.

In one way its good that they are being held to high standards; on the other
hand, this is resulting in less relevant search responses, for no real benefit
to anyone (including those whom antitrust law, which they might be thinking
about, is there to protect).

Hard to say what what the right thing to do is. Sometimes, it looks like its a
tough job to maintain the 'dont be evil' image.

~~~
DaveMebs
The thing is, this just doesn't matter. They still have a Chrome ad at the top
of every page and if people are looking to find Chrome it's already simple.
The outgoing links don't matter, because the sites the Chrome page links to
are also easy to find.

~~~
fleitz
Not to mention if you go to Google from IE it prompts you to install Chrome
before you even search.

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stevenleeg
Wowzas. That's a pretty big move for Google to make.

Google.com/chrome isn't even the top result for the query "Google Chrome" or
"Chrome"

[https://www.google.com/search?ix=heb&sourceid=chrome&...](https://www.google.com/search?ix=heb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Google+Chrome)

[https://www.google.com/search?ix=heb&sourceid=chrome&...](https://www.google.com/search?ix=heb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Chrome)

Good on you, Google.

~~~
azakai
It isn't? The first thing I see when I search for "google chrome" is

Google Chrome Download | google.com

www.google.com/chrome

~~~
eridius
That's a paid ad. You can tell from the yellow background and from the text
that says "Ad" in the upper-right.

~~~
azakai
I'm aware of that. My point was that not much has actually changed in
practical terms. Yes, there is a little "Ad" text and slightly different
background, but both before and after, the first thing people see when they
search for "google chrome" is the Chrome download page.

~~~
driax
Here in Denmark Google doesn't advertise their browser. However Microsoft
does. So a search for "browser" returns an ad for IE, wikipedia as the top
result, and then Firefox, Opera and Safari without Google Chrome anywhere on
the first search page. So it definitely has changed in practical terms.

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patio11
I'm torn between "That's almost _cute_ " and "This is wrist-slapping ourselves
to give the appearance that we administer our guidelines in a manner which is
not arbitrary and capricious."

~~~
ricefield
I'm sure trying to decide which snarky remark best conveys your condescending
attitude towards a company's attempt to maintain its integrity and good
standing is such a terrible dilemma.

~~~
Eliezer
I'd go with "Apology accepted, Captain Needa."

Snark aside, I have to say that _was_ my reaction - it's a more sincere
apology than we usually get, and can be accepted as such.

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jhawk28
What would happen if an entity started buying links for a competitor product
so that it was demoted?

~~~
jaylevitt
Utter chaos, unless Google's anti-spam team is made up of humans, who could
see through it.

See also: "If I change my name to Mark Zuckerberg, they _can't_ sue me,
because the judge will think I'm Mark Zuckerberg!"

------
Vivtek
Wow. Points to Google for consistency!

~~~
azakai
Yes, this was a smart response to a bad situation. If Google had done anything
else it would have been heavily criticized. This was the right thing to do.

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prophetjohn
What I see when searching for "Google Chrome" is support.google.com/chrome,
with sub-links underneath and the top-left sublink going directly to
google.com/chrome. I think the system has been worked a little bit, but it's
still interesting that they made this move. It may be enough to make it hard
for people who have to search to find the download to get to it.

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TomGullen
Can someone explain how they got into this situation? I can't find any
backstory.

~~~
andrewflnr
This, apparently: [http://searchengineland.com/googles-jaw-dropping-
sponsored-p...](http://searchengineland.com/googles-jaw-dropping-sponsored-
post-campaign-for-chrome-106348)

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guywithabike
Doesn't seem to have amounted to much. In my search results for "browser", I
get:

1\. Firefox 2\. Wikipedia "browser" 3\. Wikipedia "Google chrome" 4\. PC Mag
"Browser chrome definition" 5\. Google's Chrome download page

For "chrome":

1\. Google's Chrome download page 2\. Wikipedia "Google Chrome" 3\. PC Mag
"Browser chrome definition" 4\. Chrome messenger bags 5\. CNet's Google Chrome
download page

~~~
pessimist
Its disappeared for me for the queries [browser], [internet browser] etc. The
change probably takes a while to rollout everywhere. Probably fair that it
still shows up for [chrome].

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billpatrianakos
Maybe this is a dumb question as no one really asked it so far but, umm, I
thought Google couldn't mess with rankings. Like, at _all_. I've read
everywhere, even on Google's own properties that rankings are based on their
top secret algorithm and that they not only cannot but will not manually
manipulate results ever.

I really doubt they'd release a publicity statement that let loose such a big
secret so what am I missing or misinterpreting? I really thought there was
just no way possible to change results. I get that they can mess with ads but
organic results?

Edit: Not to be _that_ guy but what's with the downvotes? I'm honestly asking.
If there's something dumb about it I'd really appreciate someone telling me.
Then downvote all you like. Am I being naive to think they can't change a
ranking? Am I misusing terms? What's up?

~~~
pingswept
I suspect you are getting downvoted because it is obvious to programmers that
because Google made the ranking system, it is possible for them to manipulate
the rankings in whatever way they want.

~~~
billpatrianakos
Thank you. I'm a programmer too but I didn't get it. I figured that could be
the case but then I wonder how? I, first of all, naively assumed they couldn't
do it because they say they can't (shame on me for being so trusting), and
then figured that if they changed the algorithm then there'd be collateral
damage. I dont really get into algorithms much so I didn't know they could
target a single page like that. The smart programmers would probably say I was
a yellow belt compared to their black belt. Anyway, thanks for the answer.

~~~
tomkarlo
It doesn't require any inside knowledge to manipulate the ranking system.
There are some methods that you can't really architect against (like paid
posts) from a software angle, so Google has rules and penalties in place to
discourage sites from doing that in order to distort their page rank. In this
case, one team seems to have accidentally run afoul of those rule and is being
penalized appropriately because it makes sense in terms of the larger picture
of protecting the quality of search results.

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brudgers
Regardless of the rationale, Google's willingness to manually manipulate page
rank for the sake of PR doesn't make a positive impression on me. There was
the appearance that Google was gaming SE results, publicly doing so does not
seem like a very convincing argument that Google is above such practices.

In other words, I am not inclined to bestow accolades upon them for making
real the concerns which were raised.

~~~
zobzu
Well, at least they kind try to fix it, or, make it appear like so.

But yeah, it's like praising someone saying "ok, ill stop murdering people
now", on a much lower level of course. (specially after being slapped on the
wrist)

~~~
brudgers
Google didn't say, "We will stop manipulating search results."

Instead, they said, "We were manipulating search results, and therefore we are
so sorry, we are going to manipulate search results."

Promoting Chrome through the manipulation of search results was not the root
problem. It was merely a symptom. Manipulating page rank for their own benefit
is the problem, and that is their proposed solution.

It came only after the manipulation came to light and does not appear to be
part of a larger project to end all manipulation for their benefit.

