In an apparent latest volley related to the recent kerfuffle over JC Penney gaming Google search results, Google today announced a tool for users of its Chrome browser that lets them eliminate Google search results from dubious domains. Not only will the extension affect what users who install it see in their browser's search results, but Google's blog post about the extension goes as far as to admit that the company will consider data from its users to tweak everyone's search results.
The post, written by Principal Engineer Matt Cutts states "…we will study the resulting feedback and explore using it as a potential ranking signal for our search results." It goes on, "This is an early test, but the extension is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. We hope this extension improves your search experience, and thanks in advance for participating in this experiment."
The extension is available from the Chrome Web Store, where it's described as follows: "The personal blocklist extension will transmit to Google the patterns that you choose to block. When you choose to block or unblock a pattern, the extension will also transmit to Google the URL of the Web page on which the blocked or unblocked search results are displayed."
After you start blocking Web domains, at the bottom of your Google results page you'll see a notice saying "Some results were removed by the Personal Blocklist Chrome extension (show)." Clicking the "show" link will reveal answers from your blocked sites, highlighted in pink. A toolbar button, when clicked, drops down your list of blocked sites and lets you unblock it or edit the domain name.
It remains to be seen what effect this toolbar will have on the increasingly dark art of search engine optimization (SEO), a field in which well-paid experts try to guess the Google engine's ranking algorithm in an attempt to raise their clients' position in search results. It was this type of effort that got both Google and JC Penney in hot water.
It started with a damning article in the New York Times describing how JC Penney allegedly manipulated unpaid, organic search results to make itself the top listing for numerous generic terms like "dresses" and "area rugs." The New York Times hired a search engine optimization firm, Blue Fountain Media in New York, to show how this was done.