Googlewashing
December 15, 2008
Andrew Orlowski’s “Google Cranks Up the Consensus Engine” strikes me as an important article. The hook for the story here was Googler Marissa Meyer’s comments, reported in TechCrunch. Mr. Orlowski wrote:
Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results.
I agree.
Mr. Orlowski continued:
In the absence of editorial confidence, Google – the Monster that threatens to Eat The Media – now defines the purpose of the media. All media companies need do is “tap into the zeitgeist” – Google Zeitgeist™!
Several thoughts ran through my mind. On Friday, December 12, 2008, we met with one of our clients and showed where the ArnoldIT.com Web pages appear in Google result lists. Most of our test queries appear in the first page of Google results except for one: queries for Arnold and Google patents. We noted the anomaly, and we assumed that my study based on Google patent documents was no longer hot. We ran some more queries and concluded that the study called “Google Version 2.0” and its link to my name and Google patents were tough to find. Maybe Mr. Orlowski provides a piece of the puzzle we encountered?
Mr. Orlowski is on the right track with his analysis and I look forward to his following this line of inquiry. Human manipulation is more expensive than machine processes. But when it comes to shaping search results to pump advertising or make certain information tough to find, I think humans work pretty well. Could those fancy systems and methods not work very well?
Stephen Arnold, December 15, 2008
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