Google Updates Algo to Combat Google Bombs – Why?

I just read a post this morning on the Official Google Webmaster Blog, written by Matt Cutts, that says Google has updated their algorithm to begin “minimizing the impact of many Googlebombs”.

First of all, since when do they care? And why? If I write a blog entry about some stupid jerk, where I link to using that anchor text is a way for me to express my thoughts about that particular page. It is the same concept – democratic in nature, but often abused – that makes the Google algo provide the best search results on the planet. So why intervene? Why go out of your way, Matt and Friends, to tone down my opinion as shown in your search results? This is the CORE of your search engine algorithm, at least as far as we know from experimentation, reading patent applications, and the paper that started it all: The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine. So what are you doing?

“But over time, we’ve seen more people assume that they are Google’s opinion, or that Google has hand-coded the results for these Googlebombed queries. That’s not true, and it seemed like it was worth trying to correct that misperception.”

Matt says they have been accused of fixing the results, of displaying their personal opinions about people through the search results. So some dumb redneck from Tennessee thinks Google has manipulated the search results for Miserable Failure, and now thousands of opinions from forward-thinking bloggers are suddenly squashed because Google wants to protect their reputation! Why should you prove to these people that you don’t hand-code the search results?

If your search engine algorithm was as altruistic as you like people to think, this would not be happening. It is a slippery slope you’re on Matt. How far down the rabbit hole are you going to go? What’s next? What algorithmic change are you going to make when some other group blames you for fixing the results? Are you going to change a SERP because a company threatens to sue you after thousands of unhappy consumers link to their page using words like “scam” or “bad customer service“?

 I hope Jethro is happy. His favorite pretend-cowboy is no longer the first result for “miserable failure” or “worst president ever”. But who has paid the price for your kowtow to him?