Is Google censoring anti-Obama stories?

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82113 ^ | Nov 28,2008 | http://worldnetdaily.com

[Maelstorm]

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs claims the search engine giant has banned her groundbreaking articles about Obama – a technique many people refer to as "sandboxing."

"There was no warning, no notice, nothing," Geller told WND. "They have basically sandboxed me."

"Sandboxing" happens when Google strips a website's rankings from its search engine results. According to some theories, this happens to new websites when Google puts them into a holding area known as a "sandbox" until the site gains credibility.

However, Atlas Shrugs is not new, and Geller believes her stories have been intentionally suppressed by the Internet giant – especially ones about President-elect Obama. She said her exclusive stories about Obama's birth certificate that once received thousands of hits every day will not come up in Google word searches.

"I was in the top five search results before the story got legs," she said. "These stories drove 12,000 to 15,000 people to my site every day."

But now a November earnings report from shows her Google clicks and revenue flat lining since Nov. 20. Daily page impressions dropped from an average of 20,000 and 45,000 to single digits – overnight. Also, her Google images hits are slowed to only 4,720 since that day, while Yahoo and other search engines list them in the hundreds of thousands.

"The media gives blogs the silent treatment," she said. "The only thing we have is these searches. The Google word search is gone – all gone. When you are in my business, that's how you build readership."

On July 4, Geller featured a story about a board-certified forensic expert who declared Obama's online birth certificate a "forgery" and an "obvious fake." She attributes most of her problems with Google to that report.

[Maelstorm]

I wouldn't be surprised. I do know Google has changed what ends up on their news search. They can do what they want but it doesn't mean anyone has to like it.

[ocr1]

ping

[DesertSapper]

Is Google censoring anti-Obama stories?

Of course. Next question.

[Old Sarge]

Is Google censoring anti-Obama stories?

Answer: "Yeah, we're Leftists, so whatcha gonna do about it, prole?"

[rockrr]

Isn’t there a grass-roots way of protesting or influencing this? I seem to recall an effort, similar to a FReep, where a bunch of people inputted a certain search string into google’s engine which affected how it rates the popularity of interest.

If so we should slam them!

[rodguy911]

Dam shame, Geller is a fearless blogger and runs an excellent site IMHO.

[nufsed]

Google can do what they want, but don’t they bill themselves as the end all and be all of search engines bringing us the world. Isn’t that fraud or some kind of misrepresentation. Do they post a disclaimer so that people can see they use their politics to block certain opinions and topics?

[gunnyg]

Yep!

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Abso-bloody-lutely, they do.

[G.Mason]

Clusty search engine

[television is just wrong]

this is of course they do it,

[QBFimi2]

Check out conservapedia.com Careful on your spelling, though - some nasty sites with similar names are out there. "Things are never what they seem; skim milk masquerades as cream." Gilbert & Sullivan

[Jeff Chandler]

I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this is deliberate. Their logarithms change regularly and google marketers are forced to do the "google dance".

[383rr]

I just went to google, typed in “obama’s birth certificate a forgery”, and it brought up Atlas Shrugs first.

I’ve found tons of anti obama stuff on their search. That’s where I’ve gotten all of my stuff. I type it, and it appears. I really don’t know what to make of some of this stuff.

[nufsed]

thanx

[rodguy911]

Is that why goggle killed off Texas darlin’ as well? I don't get it! Everyone knows these two sites have been “the” forerunners in the quest to find info about barky’s fake BC.

[nufsed]

Can someone explain this one to me? I entered Atlas Shrugs Geller into google and she came up number 1. The second story was the BC one.

How do I use google to experience the blocked or banned article?

[MosesKnows]

Is Google censoring anti-Obama stories?

Do bears poop in the woods?

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I use Dogpile. It's great! It uses several search engines, “This is exactly what Dogpile metasearch does-it brings together the best results from the Internet's top search engines, including Google, Yahoo! Search, Live Search, Ask.com, About, MIVA, LookSmart, and more.”
http://www.dogpile.com/

[rodguy911]

I typed in obama birth certificate and at the bottom of page three found daily kos and by the end of page four neither Texas darlin or Atlas shrugs.This wreaks!!