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Google Denies Demoting the Pirate Bay In Some Countries (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what's-happening dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Google and The Pirate Bay have had an interesting relationship over the years, to say the least. This week, users pointed out that The Pirate Bay can appear significantly lower down in search results (and definitely not on the first page), depending on which country you are searching in. We reached out to Google, and it denied the allegations that it was demoting the site. TorrentFreak first spotted the odd behavior. The publication used Chrome in incognito mode to search for "The Pirate Bay" in Google with different IP addresses to see where the site's thepiratebay.org domain showed up. An IP address in the U.K., for example, would result in The Pirate Bay showing up on the fifth or sixth page, while an IP address in the U.S. would bring back The Pirate Bay as the top result.

24 comments

  1. Well it's 'blocked' in the UK.... by djsmiley · · Score: 5, Informative

    Meaning you can't access it via the usual means.

    So google, will see no traffic from the UK to the site -> therefore the sites ranking falls. Makes sense really?

    --
    - http://www.milkme.co.uk
    1. Re:Well it's 'blocked' in the UK.... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Killing bad mod

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Well it's 'blocked' in the UK.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your mod was not alive, hence you did not kill it

    3. Re:Well it's 'blocked' in the UK.... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but being blocked in the UK means there's very little point in providing links in the first place, not just based on local traffic rankings.

    4. Re:Well it's 'blocked' in the UK.... by houghi · · Score: 1

      Do they block it or does your provider block it via DNS. To verify, use the DNS server from Google : 8.8.8.8 and use any other open DNS server to see if it is just google, or your provider or both or neither.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    5. Re:Well it's 'blocked' in the UK.... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      I can access it just fine in the UK, even without a VPN.

      I think it's only a few of the big ISPs that were forced to block it by a court order, the smaller ones are unaffected.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Pagerank? by cloud.pt · · Score: 2

    It kinda makes sense if the country has tpb blocked on the ISP level. If a group of users already knows tpb is blocked in their country, such as the UK which I believe has most trackers blocked, it's only common that the pagerank score gets pretty low so it shows later.

    BUT, I have to admit I have noticed similar downranks for warez pages the last 4 or 5 years, especially the TPB. I usually confirm my suspicions by searching with duckduckgo using incognito and the top result there is usually a lot more related to warez than in Google's international page (which I always use).

    Then there is the google DMCA policy, which in Europe is pretty common to see at the end of the search page when looking up warez directly. I get a lot of messages stating "google ahs ommitted some search results due to DMCA takedown notices" or whatever

    1. Re:Pagerank? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Theres also the (impossible to correlate) fact that the market has simply changed. With services like iTunes, Steam and Netflix (imperfect as they are) growing and expanding into foreign markets, there is simply less need for warez websites like TPB.

  3. In Somalia by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Somalia, searching for "the pirate bay" brings up Google maps with directions on how to get there.

    1. Re:In Somalia by cloud.pt · · Score: 1

      Context is key.

  4. They have an excuse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What, you think "personalized search" meant "search better optimized to find things you want to find"?

  5. I hate to say it by avandesande · · Score: 1

    But I am using BING more and more...

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
    1. Re:I hate to say it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But I am using BING more and more...

      We ask not your counsels or your arms.
      Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
      May your chains set lightly upon you,
      and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

    2. Re:I hate to say it by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      Doesn't Bing have the same issues, especially since it copies some of the fake index data Google purposefully generates?

      For a time, when I didn't have money, I used Baidu and Chinese blogs to find mp3s of American and European Pop music. I don't read Chinese, but the file names are in English.

  6. Re:Definitions by Dthief · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yeah. Baley says its "modicide"

    --
    www.RacquetUp.org - Helping Detroit Youth
  7. Re:Who cares about Google rankings? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your boyfriend has an impressive penis.

  8. Re:Who cares about Google rankings? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yep, his is 13 inches. We gamg bang your dad thrice times a week.

  9. Re:Who cares about Google rankings? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's gay.

  10. Re:Who cares about Google rankings? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yep. Flamingly gay and your dad loves it.

  11. Re:Definitions by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 0

    We can even use it in a sentence! e.g. Masturbating all the time kills one's desire to get out of the house and talk to girls.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.