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
The gender is open.
Try using “other”
Have a different nickname, if your name is “Peter” use a nickname such as “Jill”
Change your “real” name to a more socially useful name, such as Osama Binbag..
Play the game !
That’s why I don’t use google! Or will not buy an android based phone.
Meanwhile google powers their massive data centres with pixie dust!
“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?”
Who ever said rational thought had anything to do with belief in the global warming religion?
Anthony: Your complaint with Google might be legitimate, but you need to make a better case. As far as I can see, the main thing Google does is to find matches between words in the search argument and words in web pages. (Without that, it wouldn’t even work.) I suspect it also looks at synonyms. No doubt, it does other things as well, but you need evidence of what they are.
Isn’t it possible that WattsUpWithThat has used the phrase “global warming” less frequently in the recent past, especially in the main articles, as opposed to the comments threads? One thing I’ve noticed about Google is that it’s better at noticing words and phrases that are prominent on a page, or nearer the top of page.
Most of the commenters here seem to think that word and phrase matching is not basic to what Google does. That’s a really weird idea.
I just now Googled “solar geomagnetic activity,” and the first three hits were to WattsUpWithThat.
I would encourage people to “+1” the various maps/sea ice/solar/etc pages, as those are great general resources that will of course thenalso lead into people discovering WUWT. I have done so already.
Long time ago, I removed everything with Google in the name. No chrome, no earth and no maps.
I use http://www.dogpile.com . Climategate auto filled at the 1st t. Wattsupwiththat showed up on the 1st search page.
It is a key word issue!
If you do a targeted search with the following exact entry:
+”people who actively downrate websites”
You only get 3 hits 2 of which are WUWT. That phrase appears in the second sentence of this thread, and is unique enough to not appear in almost any other web document.
To increase your google ranking legitimately without trying to game their algorithm you need to include key generic phrases like “global warming” in the titles and opening paragraphs of some of your posts. Google does other things to rank web sites like reciprocal links, but first and foremost it depends on the search key appearing in the web URL or the top few lines of the web page.
Larry
Sorry Anthony…I will not sign up for an account through Google. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them, which isn’t very far.
Anthony – why dont you consider adding a +1 button to the website to make it easier for people to +1 your standard URL code available at http://www.google.com/+1/button/
Can someone please help me locate the +1 button.
I do not see it anywhere on the page.
Sorry, but this article is [trimmed]. You make a claim and don’t back it up. I thought this was the sort of thing we liked to complain about.
Evidence?
[Please watch your language. Robt]
Got it. It appeared after I signed up for +1.
John Eggert says:
November 6, 2011 at 10:11 pm
I switched to Bing a long time ago. For a while they were a little bit off in the results, but the algorithm is improving. I’m pretty sure microsoft is in it for the money as much as google is, but they are also less prone to such idiocy.
By the way, I always get to WUWT through a search engine, rather than favourites.
========================================================================
I also enter most websites through a search engine also (swagbucks)
microsoft/bing was caught “borrowing” Google’s search results a while ago, so that is why the Bing algorithm may be improving !!
Google???
I trust them little and avoid their products/services as much as I can !!
Bring on Siri!! Help marginalize Google.
Anyone who must apply such censorship must not feel that their worldview is all that compelling on it own merits.
when I reloaded my pc I also did not load Gearth or search or chrome.
was wild to find acrobat wanted me to accept chrome to upload so refused that also.
they admitted to knocking out collation? sites also a while back.
they suck and I wont support or use them.
I use Ixquick for privacy and for fairly good results.
No matter google’s single minded vested interest in hashish technology all the while being powered by coal all the while being able to afford latest nuclear ways of boiling water, but you probably still need to use their guidelines when it comes to meta descriptions about your site and your pages.
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35624#1
Any site is just as good as its description and readily functional access to crawlers. :p
The +1 button does not even appear with the browser security settings I normally use with Internet Explorer. It shows up if I lower the settings but then so too do all those annoying Google interstitial ads.
I wonder if a better plan would be to go to Google first,
type in “WUWT” or “wuwt” and search.
Then click on the resultant WUWT Google hit and come to this site.
Wouldn’t that have some effect on the WUWT Google standings?
LOL, Anthony, my daughter makes a good living ensuring the companies she does business with get top ranking on Google! All to do with Search Engine Optimisation (S.E.O.)
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291&&hl=en You do not need a company to help, just email your friendly observers! 😉
I note that at the bottom of the link Google themselves say……
“In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click on “File a Complaint Online,” call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:
Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
Washington, D.C. 20580 ”
Now, I wonder if the FTC consider what Google is doing comes under the ” deceptive or unfair business practices”? It would be interesting to finf out if the “Gods” at Google are breaking the rules. I am sure there must be a legal eagle who visits this site that can offer advice on this.
Those of you who fear Google’s accumulation of personal knowledge might consider my approach: disinformation. According to Google, I am a retired admiral from the British Navy and a field paleoanthropologist specializing in skullduggery. I also change sex frequently, and my birthdate tends to change more than most. Unfortunately, they do have surprisingly accurate notions of my restaurant interests around my neighborhood. I should do something about that. I have, however, uploaded numerous photos I’ve taken and tagged random strangers with my name. Depending on where you look, I might be female, male, black, white, or Hispanic.
I took up this little hobby when Google+ came along and insisted that I couldn’t use the “handle”, “nickname”, “pseudonym” that I’ve been using online since 1987. Their obsession with “real names” rubbed me entirely the wrong way. Where would Hamilton and Madison have been if they couldn’t fall back on “Publius”? I’d planned to abandon the practice after Google relented and allowed pseudonyms, but I think even then I’ll want them left in the dark.
If enough people did this, those wonderful databases they build and sell would be rendered untrustworthy and useless except in the aggregate.
When I was running a popular wordpress blog that had high Google search rank we occasionally had problems such as this. One time a malicious website had somehow inserted an invisible link into our main page and that set off a big red flag with google. Another time an arch enemy created a website that mirrored all our articles and comments and had all their many users read that site instead of ours to deprive us of the traffic and insure that any deleted comments from banned users would be archived on their mirror. That tripped something in google where they thought it was us spamming our own content. I had our lawyer send the owner of the other website a cease and desist letter about copying our content.
You can find out what the problem is (usually) by going here:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/
Follow the instructions to create a webmaster account, prepare and submit a site map, and so forth. Also read and heed the guidelines.
REPLY: Thanks Dave – Anthony
Sorry, but I dont trust google anymore
—————————————————————————————-
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Dear Googlefolk;
Recently, you have decided to take sides in a scientific debate…..
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/19/an-open-letter-to-google/
—————————————————————————————-
Google Invests in CoolPlanetBioFuels..
..solution to one of the world’s biggest problems..
..Google Ventures partner Wesley Chan said in a statement. “The technology is a win-win..
http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2011/03/17/google-invests-in-coolplanetbiofuels/
—————————————————————————————–
Where’s Google Putting Its Money?
From Solar to Geothermal, High-Altitude Wind to Hybrids
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20100205/wheres-google-putting-its-money?page=2
——————————————————————————————
Google’s Contribution to ClimateGate Blackout
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2009/11/googles_contrib.html
——————————————————————————————
Lawrence Solomon: Better off with Bing
Posted: January 16, 2010, 2:07 AM by NP Editor
Why would Google want to tamp down interest in climategate? Money and power could have something to do with it. Search for Google and its founders and you’ll see that they have made big financial bets on global warming through investments in renewable and other green technologies; that they have a close relationship with Al Gore, that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is close to Barack Obama.
But search for Googlegate and you’ll also see that more than money is at stake. The accusations against Google of censorship are wide-spread, involving schemes to elect Barack Obama, attacks on Christianity (key in “Christianity is” and Google will suggest unflattering completions to the phrase), and political correctness (key in “Islam is” and nothing negative is suggested).
The bottom line? Google is as inscrutable as the Chinese, and perhaps no less corrupt. For safe searches, you’re best off with Bing.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2010/01/16/lawrence-solomon-better-off-with-bing.aspx
(The requested URL /np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2010/01/16/lawrence-solomon-better-off-with-bing.aspx was not found on this server.)
Google is evil … BOYCOTT them! Bing is Microsloth and they are also EVIL.
{ use http://startpage.com/ for search and http://vimeo.com/ for video }