Category Politics & Business
Want to learn about Santorum? You might not want to search the Web at work
Americans taking their first look at Rick Santorum are in for a surprise if they try to Google him for more information.
The first link you’ll find won’t be a discussion of Santorum’s conservative political views, or a campaign brochure, or even criticism of the former Pennsylvania senator’s Congressional record.
The first link offers a faux definition of the word “santorum” as the byproduct of a sex act – a very graphic definition, at that. Because the definition appears right on the search results page, it’s convincing enough that someone might be convinced the suddenly prominent Republican presidential candidate has suffered from an unfortunate coincidence involving his last name for his entire life.
In fact, the “coincidence” is only about eight years old.
In 2003, Santorum angered many in the gay and lesbian community when he appeared to tell an Associated Press reporter – in very twisted language — that gay sex was not entitled to privacy protections, and could therefore be banned by the government.
Publication of the interview caused outrage among gays, and it eventually found voice in Seattle-based sex columnist Dan Savage, who took up a suggestion from a reader and decided to play a Google trick on Santorum. He held a contest to decide precisely how to define “santorum,” then created a Web page that did so called SpreadingSantorum.com, and finally he helped create a network of other Web pages that pointed to the page. Soon enough, SpreadingSantorum became the top search result for Google (and Bing, and Yahoo) searches of “santorum.”
“Real” links about the former senator appear farther down in the search results.
(A transcript of his interview is here. There are other interpretations of his remarks.)
Tricking Google results is a common practice by those using search engine optimization tricks. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse game between Google’s algorythm writers and anyone who has a desire to manipulate what happens when Internet users scratch a search engine itch. Companies worried about random customer complaints can employ tactics to push down the negative remarks so casual searchers don’t find them. Others find ways to make links to their Web pages more prominent than competitors’ pages.
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Politics & Business on January 4th, 2012
What Can Politics Teach You About Running a Business?
By Tom Polanski
When people think of politics, generally one definition comes to mind – “poli” meaning “many” and “tics” meaning ‘bloodsucking creatures”.
Joking aside, can a bunch of mud-slinging, under-handed politicians really teach you about running a business? As it turns out, they can teach you a lot – both what to do, and what not to do. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Tom Polanski in Politics & Business on April 21st, 2008