TY - JOUR
T1 - Manipulating search engine algorithms
T2 - The case of Google
AU - Baruchson-Arbib, Shifra
AU - Bar-Ilan, Judit
PY - 2007/10/19
Y1 - 2007/10/19
N2 - Purpose To investigate how search engine users manipulate the rankings of search results. Search engines employ different ranking methods in order to display the “best” results first. One of the ranking methods is PageRank, where the number of links pointing to the page influences its rank. The “anchor text,” the clickable text of the hypertext link is another “ingredient” in the ranking method. There are a number of cases where the public challenged the Google's ranking, by creating a so-called “Google bomb” – creating links to pages they wanted to be highly ranked for given query. Google is chosen as the search engine, because it is currently by far the most popular search engine. Design-methodology-approach PageRank, one of the major parameters of Google's ranking algorithm is described, and the author explains how this algorithm is exploited by communities of users to promote a certain web page for a specific query. This process is called “Google bombing.” Recent reaction of Google to this phenomenon is also described. Findings Specific examples of “accomplished Google bombs” show that the public is able to manipulate search results. Originality-value Google, instead of being an unobtrusive information retrieval tool has become highly influential in the web scenery. Some users pay for search engine optimization, while others utilize the power of the crowd to influence Google's rankings. This paper supports the claims of Introna and Nissenbaum regarding the power of search engines.
AB - Purpose To investigate how search engine users manipulate the rankings of search results. Search engines employ different ranking methods in order to display the “best” results first. One of the ranking methods is PageRank, where the number of links pointing to the page influences its rank. The “anchor text,” the clickable text of the hypertext link is another “ingredient” in the ranking method. There are a number of cases where the public challenged the Google's ranking, by creating a so-called “Google bomb” – creating links to pages they wanted to be highly ranked for given query. Google is chosen as the search engine, because it is currently by far the most popular search engine. Design-methodology-approach PageRank, one of the major parameters of Google's ranking algorithm is described, and the author explains how this algorithm is exploited by communities of users to promote a certain web page for a specific query. This process is called “Google bombing.” Recent reaction of Google to this phenomenon is also described. Findings Specific examples of “accomplished Google bombs” show that the public is able to manipulate search results. Originality-value Google, instead of being an unobtrusive information retrieval tool has become highly influential in the web scenery. Some users pay for search engine optimization, while others utilize the power of the crowd to influence Google's rankings. This paper supports the claims of Introna and Nissenbaum regarding the power of search engines.
KW - Africa
KW - Developing countries
KW - Disadvantaged groups
KW - Information profession
KW - Information services
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992926549&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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AN - SCOPUS:84992926549
SN - 1477-996X
VL - 5
SP - 155
EP - 166
JO - Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
JF - Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
ER -