An explanation of our
search results.
If you recently used
Google to search for the word
"Jew," you may have seen
results that were very disturbing. We assure you that
the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by
Google. We''d like to explain why you''re seeing these results when you conduct
this search.
A site''s ranking in Google''s search results relies
heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page''s
relevance to a given query. Sometimes subtleties of language cause anomalies to
appear that cannot be predicted. A search for "Jew" brings up one such
unexpected result.
If you use Google to search for "Judaism," "Jewish" or
"Jewish people," the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search
for "Jew" different? One reason is that the word "Jew" is often used in an
anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word
"Jewish" when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat
charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as
these:
http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/vol01/vol01.174
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/jonah081500.asp
Someone searching for information on Jewish people
would be more likely to enter terms like "Judaism," "Jewish people," or "Jews"
than the single word "Jew." In fact, prior to this incident, the word "Jew" only
appeared about once in every 10 million search queries. Now it''s likely that the
great majority of searches on Google for "Jew" are by people who have heard
about this issue and want to see the results for themselves.
The beliefs and preferences of those who work at
Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or
impact our search results. Individual citizens and public interest groups do
periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search
results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests
individually, Google views the comprehensiveness of our search results as an
extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our
search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive
complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we
believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe
we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is
responsible for the page.
We apologize for the upsetting nature of the experience
you had using Google and appreciate your taking the time to inform us about
it.
Sincerely,The Google Team
p.s. You may be interested in some additional
information the Anti-Defamation League has posted about this issue at http://www.adl.org/rumors/google_search_rumors.asp.
In addition, we call your attention to Google''s search results
on this topic.
Mais críticas sobre http://www.google.com/explanation.html