From Howard Fineman reporting on NBC.

"Howard Fineman is the Chief Political Correspondent, Senior Editor and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief. An award-winning writer, Fineman also is an analyst"

Howard Fineman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saw this yesterday in a non IM forum.

The word on the streets is that BP *might* have bought some top ranking sites/blogs to create redirects to their own websites.

You guys in the US should do some tests in Gdotcom and see what happens...

This is nothing more than BS speculation. Not buying it...

I agree with Lickety - why in the world would Google want to do this & risk their credibility? It's not as if they are a company struggling for revenue!

Can anyone in the UK or US do a test for "BP oil spill" on G dot com and see what happens?

I did a few queries...I did about 7-8 searches for oil spill related keywords not containing "bp" and didn't find BP in the top few postions.

However, I did another 7-8 searches each containing "BP" and oil related keywords and every one of them had BP.com ranked #1.

But if I search for a strange combo to see if BP may have paid for BP* (wildcard):
bp poodles

No BP.

My very basic tests show "maybe"...Hard to tell...

Let me also clarify the Fineman wasn't reporting on this specific issue. The topic of Google buying organic listing came up as part of a bigger conversation. But it did get my attention.

Yeah what a ridiculous conspiracy theory. What I DO wonder about though is how many things google rank for un-organically.

What if I get more backlinks for the term "google" than google do? I know it's impossible but I bet you that they wouldn't let anyone overtake it, even if someone had a website that was more relevant.

Google.com homepage doesn't exactly have much content on it, does it?


I'm only joking google lovers!


I am also a googlelover (all one word)

You seem like a pretty nervous guy. But it also looks you don't really know much about SEO. The reason why big sites rank for anything is because those sites have a DOMAIN authority. You get authority through links. BP has 110 000 of them and has PR8 and those two things are good indicator it's an authority sites in search engines eyes. So they can just mention "oil spill" and you bet they will rank for that. Not to mention that a lot of news sites have linked to them when reporting about oil spill, this has increased their authority in Googles eyes.

Google is probably worth more than BP and I don't think there is enough money that can buy Googles algoritham. However BP can buy sites that already rank good and thats not Googles shame but the site owners who sell them, also with money BP has you can pay top SEO experts who spent their life reverse enginering and exploring Googles algoritham.

You can trash all you want but at this point those meta description threads seem far more inteligent than this one.

I've heard that they did actually buy the top spot, but not from Google directly.

Anyone who knows anyone whom has ever worked at Google can tell you, the guys who started and much of the upper management to this day is incredibly liberal and totally against off shore drilling....so selling the algorithm to BP doesn't make sense....they don't need the money.

It does look like BP has bought a few properties and redirected them. It's a smart move, but probably won't help if it gets out.

Let's also point out that a company as big as BP...should be #1 in results for basically any search that contains their company name.

We could get the same results for any Fortune 100 company

Do you think BP has not enough money for their PR to simply bid for a #1 position in Adwords?

What an excellent example of "reputation management"

wow..this one is EXCELLENT:

• What is BP Doing?
  
  Tell BP to Worry About Cleaning the
  Gulf, Not Its Image. Act Now!
  RepowerAmerica.org

Yes, they should be worrying about fixing the mess they made and if they do a good job of it then the reputation will come with it. I do have a feeling they will be spending almost as much money to repair their image as they are on fixing the oil spill.

I think it's odd that most people here are kind of favoring BP. Do you guys watch any news?

Kurt's stating that he's heard they bought top rankings for BP related terms in the natural serps. He's an expert at SEO. Although I didn't see it myself he says he heard this from Howard Fineman reporting on NBC.

That's a big deal. I heard BP was taking out 50 million dollars worth of ads yesterday to help rebuild their reputation. Really, it seems like the last thing they should be doing right now.

At any rate, should bp really come up at the top of the SERP's? Did they buy their way there? We might have more luck figuring this out if there were a way to track the past results.

I see they come up second behind news releases for all bp + oil related terms I've typed in and they're not coming up at all when I leave the bp out. So if they've been able to buy serp's rankings it seems to only be when their company name comes up.

When I look for info on the oil spill, the last thing I want is to get it from BP. So it would really be a shame if they've been able to buy top serp's listings, even if it is just when their name is added to the search. I'd like to know if this is really true?

Lisa

I dont believe all this.

Every serious SEO knows about "branding". YES - Google does give authority sites an (unfair?) ranking advantage - but thats nothing new. This is whats called "branding".
This is why if you type "insurance" you will get allstate, state farm and so forth and not some SEOs little MFA site which he SEOed for "insurance".

It is likely that Google "deemed" BP such a branding tag since its relevant to this topic. Means: It is favored in the search engines for a specific topic since the site is relevant and considered an ultimate authority for a search term.

Everything beyond like "BP bought..." is pure speculation IMO.

true - AND false. of course from a personal point of view we might say..."cheez BP clear up your mess and dont worry about your image". But you need to admit 50Mil is nothing for a company like BP - and from THEIR view its actually an intelligent thing to do trying to fix their reputation that way.

BP 'manipulating search results' on Google following oil spill - Times Online


the first paragraph is pure nonsense. People talking about PPC and organic search results like its the same thing. "BP bought....[ads]" <-- does not EQUAL BP gave google money for a manipulation of SE results.

Pure nonsense. This happens when people (the press) talking about a subject where they have no clue about.

The Irony.: And again, who will "win" and ultimately profit? Guess who? Google

George,

I can see how the reporters would get this wrong and that may have been what started the whole thing. If you're not versed in online marketing you might not understand how Adwords vs natural SERP's work.

The few news reports I've read so far makes it sound like they just bought regular paid ads like PPC.

I get what you're saying about reputation management. My point was more that I'd rather see them spend their time and energy on fixing this mess. But likely they have an entire marketing group who from their point of view *should* be doing something to try to help with damage control.

So my comment about buying ads being the last thing they should be doing now was entirely my personal opinion and emotional thoughts, not at all directed at what would make the most business sense. (Although really, I think it'll make them look worse in the long run, but again, my opinion).

Lisa

Yes reporters are not versed in online marketing and they don't understand the difference between organic and paid listings. However for people who say they are SEO experts to let this story go on? Come on, I know people are pissed at BP however lets not make things up. From SEO perspective this story is pure BS.

If we look from general view about what they are doing or is it right or wrong. Well, I can only say that they are oil company, what do you expect? Oil companies are doing BS all over the world for decades and there was no problems until it happened in US backyard. I hear people saying, "you wanted the oil so much, well there you have it".

However I am not prick like them and I can say that it is horrible what BP did, many people will suffer for this, I really hate these oil companies and every other blood sucking company that is only about profit. I hope we all learn a leasson from this and I hope this guys will be locked up. But that still doesn't mean you can buy Google organic listings.

I am afraid this would get WAY, WAY off topic.

Don't get me wrong, of course what BP "did" was bad - but its not that BP wanted to get that rig explode, 11 people killed and all the golf coast polluted.

Its really not a matter of "BP" - but a way, way more general matter of OURSELVES and how we take non-renewable energy (like oil/gas/coal) for granted. We are the ones driving SUVs and Hummers.

Its also a matter of politics and a focus (or lack thereof) on alternative energies. Believe me, as a european i know very well the difference how we obsess over this stuff here - and the US has a A LOT to learn still in this regards.

Such a disaster like that oil spill just puts something rather "obscure" FINALLY right into people's conscience. Because now instead of just reading "how bad oil or emissions are" you can see it with your own eyes right there at the golf coast.

So.."BP is not evil"...nor less evil than exxon, shell or someone who drives a hummer who doesnt give a *** about what it does to the environemt but ONLY how much gas is on the pump.

It's far too easy to blame BP for something which is a much more global matter. IMO. People need to start to think.

Sorry for being off-topic.

If the reporters are talking about the paid results then I am sure they know how Google Adwords/Sponsored listings work. They are just trying to create controversy around an already hot subject. They are fooling the people who don't know for their own gain.

I can't comment about the search results because I am not in the US but in Australia it is Wikipedia, BP.com and our Newspapers up the top.

BP sells oil, they will always rank well for a term that contains BP and Oil. It is basic SEO principals.

It really won't matter at the end of the day when they have to close up shop to pay the cleaners.

What an interesting discussion. I have also heard the rumor online about BP trying to get all the internet traffic from anyone searching about the oil spill. I don't know if it is true or not.

I have also heard that BP is spending a lot to air commercials about their response to the situation. One of these commercials is now airing in my area (Kentucky) and I have seen it three times. BP says in these commercials they are going to make things right, no matter how long it takes.

Somebody on TV said that these commercials were not airing near the affected beaches.

BP will really have to spend a lot and I don't know if even their deep pockets can miraculously cure the oil-flooded water and soil, and round up the weird floating plumes, etc., or replace the fishing areas that are lost, at least for now.

But I do think they will be called to account and will be spending a lot of money for quite some time.