Google searches to detect bad businesses

[The Buzz]

Google says it will be modifying its search engine to lower rankings for businesses that provide bad services. The move comes after an article in The New York Times detailed how an Australian eyeware company's shoddy service resulted in high Google rankings due to bad reviews.

From New Zealand PC World:

"I've exploited this opportunity because it works. No matter where they post their negative comments, it helps my return on investment. So I decided, why not use that negativity to my advantage?" Vitaly Borker, founder and owner of DecorMyEyes, told the Times.

That tactic won't work anymore, Google said Wednesday. "I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google's search results," wrote Amit Singhal, Google fellow, in a blog post.

Google seemed embarrassed and surprised by the article and quickly moved to address the issue, said industry analyst Greg Sterling from Sterling Market Intelligence. "It just shows that Google is fallible and must continue to adjust its results as new circumstances arise," Sterling said via e-mail.

[casinojack]

Yes! Now all we have to do is fake some bad reviews and the competitors are gone...How soon till this gets abused?

[davenewgates]

Bad reviews, SEO-wise, are somewhat similar to how Google bomb works: you could post tons of degrading articles and point it to a certain competitor's site. I think Google also has its algorithm on detecting this type of move against a competition..

[Anthony-Coral]

Not sure it has THAT much of an effect, or surely GrandPrive and Bwin would be making a killing, LOL!

[TanyaEverest]

How will they create an algorithm to circumvent the issue? I see a few flaws in the possible options:

1. Go on the "star" system. Fewer stars on a review, the less credit. Issue here could be programming for all the different types of ratings (ratings up to 3/5/10 stars.

2. Using keywords. Example: someone says "Everest is bad ass!". Would the word "bad" penalize the review.

I know the guys at Google are smart, but I hope for everyone's sake that they really test and think about this before initiating any more changes to their computations.

[JoeAdams]

Got high PR because of its bad reviews? Imagine we're exerting too much efforts using organic techniques just to get a high pr, doing our best to get a good reviews and yet still to no vail.. Google should really do something about it.

[grem]

I doubt google would change their algorithm because of that news article

[wagerjunction]

I doubt google would change their algorithm because of that news article

That article is wicked though!!!

Hope Google manages to sort that out.