Google is watching and listening. Google Changes Search Algorithm To Penalize Merchants That Get Bad Reviews.

Google Changes Search Algorithm To Penalize Merchants That Get Bad Reviews
Google is watching and responding. I read an article in the New York Times this weekend, it was a high-profile story about an online merchant who had managed to leverage his dismal reputation for customer service into a top ranking on Google’s search engine.

The merchant had admitted that because so many people had complained about his site online that it rose to the top of the ranking on Google’s search results. He further bragged that treating customers poorly had proven to be “very” profitable. Google officials said they were horrified to learn of the report and immediately changed the algorithm to ensure that the strategy can’t be replicated.

The exact nature of the changes made were not revealed but a statement was issued that a solution is now in place that detects the merchant from the article as well as countless others that might have continued to benefit from the bad reviews.

Google representative Amit Singhal said that several seemingly obvious solutions to the issue allowed them to rectify this immediately and the new algorithm can now detect the sentiment of online content and have omitted problematic reviews in search results.

This is a great example of how Google is always looking for ways to improve the quality of the search content that is made available. It is this strategy that brings with it a need to constantly monitor the ever changing algorithm’s to create new strategies that allow for success online.