Google PUNISHES Itself

When you search for "browser" on Google, you won't see Chrome until position 50.

          

           Google has demoted its Chrome home page in results for a search using the keyword "browser" following an effort to have bloggers promote the Google browser that backfired. Now, there is no Chrome ad at the top of the results or link to the Chrome page anywhere on the first page of results on Google. It's ranked in position 50. 

           According to Google's statement,

"We've investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com/chrome and lower the site's PageRank for a period of at least 60 days.We strive to enforce Google's webmaster guidelines consistently in order to provide better search results for users. While Google did not authorize this campaign, and we can find no remaining violations of our webmaster guidelines, we believe Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site."

           The demotion is a response to a campaign in which bloggers were found posting low-quality content related to Google Chrome in an effort to promote a Google video about King Arthur Flour. At least one of the posts had a hyperlink to the Chrome download page, which can help a site rise in Google search results through Google's PageRank algorithm. But paying people to include such links violates Google's guidelines.

Google and Facebook were dominant websites in 2011

          Online giants, Google and Facebook came out as the most-visited websites of 2011. Meanwhile, Yahoo, which has struggled with corporate and financial problems, was the third-most-visited website. 

               Google was the most-visited website in 2011, with an average of more than 153 million unique visitors per month. Facebook was second with more than 137 million, and Yahoo was third with 130 million. Microsoft sites, including MSN, Windows Live and Bing, came in fourth with nearly 116 million unique monthly visits. Google-owned YouTube rounded out the top five with more than 106 million visits.

                Yahoo, which has fallen from its once lofty position as an Internet pioneer, has been in a state of flux. This past September, with revenues falling and some top talent leaving, Yahoo's board of directors fired then-CEO Carol Bartz. Once Bartz was out, speculation bloomed that Microsoft, which made a failed bid for Yahoo back in 2008, is once again looking to scoop up Yahoo. And then talk began that Google, possibly just to keep Yahoo out of Microsoft's clutches, was also interested in buying Yahoo.

           For social networks, Facebook was the top dog in 2011 with more than 137 million unique visitors per month, according to Nielsen. Blogger.com came in a distant second with nearly 46 million, and Twitter was in third place with more than 23 million. WordPress, with more than 20 million, and MySpace, with nearly 18 million, rounded out the top five. Google's new social network, Google+, was in the eighth spot, even though it didn't launch until late June.