Google alters algorithm to combat abusive sellers

Google is tweaking its algorithms after an online eyeglass merchant managed to get his site listed at the top of search rankings by being deliberately rude to customers and sparking complaints.

In a blog post entitled "Being bad to your customers is bad for business," Google's Amit Singhal said the change was made after an article in The New York Times drew the Internet search giant's attention to the problem.

According to the Times story, the owner of DecorMyEyes.com boosted his site's prominence in search rankings by generating negative reviews from customers.

The prominent placement of the site in search rankings generated more business, according to the owner of DecorMyEyes.

"Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue," Singhal said.

"We developed an algorithmic solution which detects the merchant from the Times article along with hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience," Singhal said. "The solution is already live."

"I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google's search results," Singhal added.

Google declined to provide details of the changes to its algorithms so as not to provide information to people who may attempt to game their ranking on the search engine.

(c) 2010 AFP