A week or so ago I found out about Google’s +1 program, which allows anybody to uprate websites that participate, so that users can boost that site’s search rankings.
As has been found recently, Google has staff of people who actively downrate websites based on a number of factors, one of which is according to reports, to downgrade sites that don’t agree with the “consensus” about AGW, or which allow for a diversity of views on the topic.
Because of this, WUWT’s google search rankings have become so repressed that you simply can’t find us when searching on terms like “global warming” or “climate change”. See below how search traffic has dropped as Google made changes:
I am hoping that with active reader involvement in the +1 program, we can reverse this trend.
All you have to do is press the “+1” button at the bottom of any article you like (its down there with all the other ‘share’ buttons like twitter and facebook, etc.). Thanks for helping!
UDAPTE: 11/07/2011 345PM PST Some commenters suggest we aren’t being properly skeptical and have no basis for our concern. We do have a reference, this internal Google document:
http://www.chaddo.com/GoogleRatingGuidelines.pdf
and this analysis:
-Anthony
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I agree with almost everyone. I tried to open an A/C but they want too much information.
earlier this year, when google dropped “search within results” (SWR) , which was its only really unique feature, people – especially those doing online research – complained long and hard, and requested it be restored urgently. google came out with a response that was an insult to those of us who used SWR CONSTANTLY AND SUCCESSFULLY and knew that google were not telling the truth:
Google Support Forum: Kelly F, Google Employee, Search Community Manager:
Search within results link: gone but still alive
Hello Web Searchers,
As you may have noticed, the Search within results link no longer appears at the bottom of your search results page. Right now you might be thinking, ‘What? No way! How am I going to narrow down my results now that it’s gone?’ Well have no fear – I’ve got a little secret for you: when you used to click on the Search within results link and type in additional search terms, you weren’t actually searching within your previous list of results. In reality, your new search terms were simply added on to your original entry and then another search was performed. We’ve eliminated that extra step you used to take to modify your results…
Please let me know if you have any questions about how this link used to work and how you can get your desired results…
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Web+Search/thread?tid=49060b0b57fe65fc&hl=en
as u will see from the multiple pages of responses to Kelly F, people just wanted SWR back, but google ignored us all. what i can say is searching on google has been far less effective since SWR was removed. simple. equally, google could have just restored the function. simple.
like so many who have commented, i would not give google my details in order to use the +1 feature, and i only use google for searching nowadays because i still get more results than on other search engines.
CAGW is not the only subject search engines hide, one way or another.
Well don’t post my comment I really don’t care, but I’ll still check out this site like I always do. SNIP me if you want for what ever reason you want, it doesn’t matter. I don’t buy this AGW BS and it stinksjust as much as real BS as far as I am concerned. But it’s your site and your call, and you got nothing more to gain from me other than my support here, and you’re gona get that anyway. CHIMO!
I am a former librarian who worked in a university. Suppose I had deliberately made it more difficult for the academics and students to find books advocating views I disagreed with. I would have been sacked!
Why should the bosses of Google get away with doing what amounts to the same thing?
If this is indeed the case isn’t it againsts their “do no evil” manifesto?
This is an interesting development in the ‘struggle’ (for struggle it is) to dislodge the Warmist Tendency from the highest positions of power.
There is an ‘elite’, that’s how they see themselves and they quite simply know better than us. They’ve long since committed themselves fully and openly to Warmism…to climb down would be require a degree of humility which I suspect they do not posess.
Just to see, I went to Yahoo and looked for “Climate Change”. No WUWT on first 15 pages.
I looked for “Global Warming”, same result.
Looked for Global Warming Blogs and WUWT on page 4.
I went to Google, looked for Global warming blogs and WUWT on page 2.
Don’t know what that proves, though, and I’m still not going to give Google all the stuff they want for an account.
stoped using google a long time ago (now bing), but I do tell as many people as I can about WUWT, the telling stat is the site hit rate, search by google may be down but whats the direct visitor count.
And
perhaps you would hope that the google search may go down over time, as once a person has found WUWT they might just save it as a bookmark so no repeat search , and there is a finite number of `searchers` around the world.
I`ll have to check out how to find google again and see if I can help
regards
“The World’s Most Private Search Engine now makes SSL encryption the default.”
https://ixquick.com/eng/press/pr-ixquick-ssl.html
On another tack, to bring WUWT to prominence, let us all Google “Voted best science blog 2008” and see whether such activity has a beneficial result.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Watts_Up_With_That
Likewise – I don’t use Google as a search engine. I am usually disappointed by the misleading results. Don’t want to touch it.
Word to those who use Google maps to navigate – don’t – it will get you lost.
I use Alta Vista – puts WUWT at the top of the list.
When you are in the business of providing web sites for business customers, unfortunately you have to play the Google game as, like it or not, appearance on Google is the yardstick by which you are measured.
And as far as I’m concerned clicking the +1 button is just that: playing the Google game. The only information they required of me is e-mail and gender (why is gender so important to them?), both of which are available to anyone who cares to check.
Another way to assist in WUWT ranking is to place links to WUWT in any web site you operate if possible.
Note to AW: how about a “Supporter’s” page for reciprocal links?
Google +1 is one of 7 scripts that open with this page on WUWT today – along with Google Adsense. I routinely block the lot!
Google have become part of the problem not part of the solution – I do everything I can to prevent them from tracking me around the globe!
I try never to use Google. It is actions like this that make me realise why I do not trust them. There is a good case to suggest that all those that believe in freedom and liberty should boycott the Google search engine.
I do not use Google for a number of reasons, not least their support for the Google exec. who helped engineer the revolution in Egypt and their partnership with the NSA.
For Google-type searches I use Bing. If I really want some comfort that my personal details are not being stored and shared I will use duckduckgo.com.
Having said that I tried ‘climate fail’ and ‘climategate’ on Google and Bing and WUWT showed on the first page both times, so I don’t think there is proactive censorship at this level. You do however have to go a long way down to find anything in the least bit contrary to the mainstream consensus if you search for ‘global warming’. This may just be that the ‘system’ may be more professional at optimising their rankings.
I think you are being crowded out by the Forbes and NewsBusters people and not the lazy liberals.
@CE – It looks to me like there’s been a change in the ranking algorithm again. But Google is so secretive that it’s impossible to tell. I know of one technical book reviews site (www.techbookreport.com) that has seen it’s traffic cut by two thirds over-night. Google opens itself to all kinds of accusations because of the secrecy, and also the deep connections to warmist orthodoxy.
Speaking of big brother, this has to be one of the most ironic moments in socialism’s history.
Or more accurately, this is big brother’s little brother speaking.
Quote from Castro’ brother:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/world/americas/relenting-on-car-sales-cuba-turns-notorious-clunkers-into-gold.html
So when did the Castro brothers discover this fundamental principle of economic freedom?
If the state has no business getting involved, why did Cuba get involved in their people’s private matters?
If taken to its logical conclusion, there will be no controls of economic activity in Cuba.
First of all, I have to say I don’t “hate” Google, I use some of their other products and most are very useful for me, but this Google+ thing at the moment is not for me at all, it behaved too aggressive and it was disruptive, I tried to give a rating on a post in Google reader and it asked me to sign up (fair enough I played along) 10 minutes later I realized that I had just integrated my Google account to an advanced data miner, tracker and advertising system, in the old days we’d call these systems malware and now they are called social networks, even when I refused to add any friends from a selection including Brittany Spears to follow, a pop up window appeared saying “you will be lonely without friends on Google+”, lol ‘Yeah Right on, where’s the delete button!’. I just don’t rate any articles now on Google. problem solved.
If Google keeps on the way they are going I can see them losing a lot of business, especially as other competing search engines that are continuing to evolve. 7 years ago I wrote my own web browser it had 100 search engines and the most useful sites built into it, it also had a meta search engine and a result blocker that would not retrieve any results from selected websites or domains, it also had a cool AI module that had built in STT (Speech to Text) and TTS (Text To Speech) and packed with tons of other light non-evasive features, then the apartment that I lived in at the time was burgled and it was all stolen, years of work 10’s of thousands worth of equipment and software including my fender Stratocaster, (If there are any Burglars reading this! YOU DO NOT STEAL A GUY’S GUITAR that’s just cruel) I haven’t got round to building another custom browser because I know the amount of time and effort it would take, anyway search control along with every other ability will probably be phased out over the next 5-10 years and what we will be left with will be an advanced global mainstream media outlet and it comes with all the frills, just look at your TV set and imagine a selection of celebrity blogs and science corespondents such as Richard Black of the bbc or dominant environmental groups such as the WWF and greenpeace to choose from, every other voice or piece of Information will be extremely hard to find. Convenience is used as a bait and it’s a great way to trap people, Welcome to the Spider Web! Mwahahahaha! Don’t have nightmares!.
And no, sorry, I’ll not be encouraging Google’s BAD behaviour by using every new gimmick they release.
“As has been found recently, Google has staff of people who actively downrate websites based on a number of factors, one of which is according to reports, to downgrade sites that don’t agree with the “consensus” about AGW, or which allow for a diversity of views on the topic.”
Please substantiate this claim.
Also, wuwt isn’t on the first page of results for “global warming” on bing either. Is Bing actively censoring skeptical viewpoints? Doesn’t appear to be, the article “Why I remain a global warming skeptic” from the Wall Street Journal is on the first page of results.
Sign up to Google? I’d sooner kiss a wookie…
Perhaps you will have to pay for an add on “Global Warming” which will give a listing at the top of the page. But then they will probably say you are being funded by big oil and big coal.
It does help if you have “Global Warming” or “Sceptic” or “Climate Sceptic” in your name. That may be the reason scepticalscience.com chose that name in addition of course to wishing to lure curious but naive people wanting to find what the sceptical arguments are, only to be subverted by a barrage of half truths. When I set up my present business, I intentionally chose the product group as my company name to gain a competitive advantage on search engines. Perhaps you could set up a new site with a more relevant name and redirect people to WUWT or even publish WUWT on a sister site.
Aahh, but the last quarter does show a warming trend. Hee, hee.
More seriously though; http://www.globalwarming.org, which is clearly a skeptic site, does appear in the search results. This kind if makes me skeptical of the conspiracy theory.
And please keep on pressing that button. Except I forgot to tell you, Google will ban you altogether if they think you are trying to game the system.
Thomas W. McCord on November 6, 2011 at 9:39 pm said:
I will stop using Google as I can no longer trust them!
————
This kind pf stuff is a bit weird since Google has apparently been tweaking your search results based in your personal previous searches.
In other words right wing fruit loops are delivered results of interest to right wing fruit loops and left wing fruit loops are delivered results of interest to left wing fruit loops.
This of course amplifies already existing problems with confirmation bias and the entrenchment of blind prejudice. This is considered to be a bad thing. People are trying to convince Google not to do this.
Tried it with firefox – failed. Insisted I log into google+ even though I was already logged in. Wouldn’t take yes for an answer. Tried again in chrome: success.
I think the chances of Google downgrading a sites PageRank (or whatever they use these days) simply because they have a certain political slant is highly unlikely. Why would they? How can it possibly benefit Google as a business?
No. Whats much more likely is that WUWT is employing SEO techniques in their HTML/scripts/whatever that is triggering an automatic adjustment by Google in an attempt to return a more “natural” PageRank.