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Google Punishing Chrome Results For 60 Days
djl4570 writes "'Google is pushing its own Chrome browser down in search rankings for 60 days following reports that the company was involved in an ad campaign that paid for links to bolster search traffic. ... According to Sullivan, it appears that Google contracted its Web ads out to a firm called Essence Digital, which in turn asked a company called Unruly Media to implement the campaign.' I see this as an astute move on Google's part. Rather than circle the wagons they say 'oops' and correct the problem. Google understands that such link pimping is a cancer that undermines the integrity of their search engine. That's why it isn't allowed and now Google is saying we don't support a double standard either."
Oh please, they were caught and had to have some PR route out of it. This has been going on for months. It only became news now that big sites picked it up.
Unfortunately, this punishment--which isn't a punishment at all since paid Chrome links still appear at the top of the page for the search term they're demoting it for--is not as severe as it was for other companies whose SEO tactics Google has taken issue with, including JC Penney, who gave the exact same excuse that Google is giving! JC Penney also claimed they had no idea what their outsourced SEO company was doing.
So while I expect a bunch of comments praising Google for being so awesome because it demoted a result for the term "browser", they only did it after a big round of negative news yesterday, from SearchEngineLand to the Washington Times, and Chrome still appears at the top of the results anyway (a sponsored result that Google pays itself for!).
+1 Insightful comment and seems like Google fanboys are raging with modpoints again, down-modding anything critical of Google. Way to stay classy Slashdot.