02 December 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor
Google has responded to a recent exposé by the New York Times - which highlighted that the search seraph elevated website rankings based on negative feedback as well as positive - by delivering an algorithm to block baddies, according to Mountain View.
The NY Times' in-depth story, which Google Fellow Amit Singhal called "disturbing," highlighted the plight of a New York City woman attempting to order eyeglass frames online. While the woman picked a seller she assumed was endorsed by the search giant, it turned into a harrowing experience where the operators of the website threatened her life when she refused to pay for the incorrect frames.
"Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue," Singhal said on the Official Google blog.
"That team developed an initial algorithmic solution, implemented it, and the solution is already live. I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google's search results."
Singhal explained the dilemmas the company faced when trying to address the problem, as simply blocking the site would have been only a short-term solution. Instead, Google opted to deploy an algorithm for merchants who provide an "extremely poor user experience."
During her trouble with the rogue website, the woman featured in the NY Times article was seemingly abandoned by her credit card company - who, initially reversed the fraudulent charges, reinstated them.
In addition, the intimidation campaign of the website proprietor included numerous abusive and vulgar threatening emails, including photographs of the woman's residence.
NYT exposé gets Google to change its ways
Google has responded to a recent exposé by the New York Times - which highlighted that the search seraph elevated website rankings based on negative feedback as well as positive - by delivering an algorithm to block baddies, according to Mountain View.The NY Times' in-depth story, which Google Fellow Amit Singhal called "disturbing," highlighted the plight of a New York City woman attempting to order eyeglass frames online. While the woman picked a seller she assumed was endorsed by the search giant, it turned into a harrowing experience where the operators of the website threatened her life when she refused to pay for the incorrect frames.
"Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue," Singhal said on the Official Google blog.
"That team developed an initial algorithmic solution, implemented it, and the solution is already live. I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google's search results."
Singhal explained the dilemmas the company faced when trying to address the problem, as simply blocking the site would have been only a short-term solution. Instead, Google opted to deploy an algorithm for merchants who provide an "extremely poor user experience."
During her trouble with the rogue website, the woman featured in the NY Times article was seemingly abandoned by her credit card company - who, initially reversed the fraudulent charges, reinstated them.
In addition, the intimidation campaign of the website proprietor included numerous abusive and vulgar threatening emails, including photographs of the woman's residence.
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