Rick Santorum's Google problem remains
Rick Santorum, who lost by just eight votes to Mitt Romney in Iowa's caucuses this week, has several roadblocks in the way of transitioning Tuesday's impressive finish to a Republican presidential nomination: a limited war chest, a meager campaign infrastructure and a history of controversial stances on social issues.
His biggest foe, though, might be Google.
A candidate's search results page is one of the most important tools on the Web for pointing potential voters to a script written by the campaign in hopes of shaping public perception.
And after his near victory in Iowa on Tuesday, many voters have been searching for more information on Santorum. Many of them have gotten quite the eyeful.
Santorum's Google problem dates back to 2003, when columnist Dan Savage challenged his readers to redefine the then-Pennsylvania senator's last name after he made some anti-gay comments in an interview with the Associated Press.
That definition, which can't be reprinted in its entirety here, is a neologism for the byproduct of a sex act.
If you go to Google and search just "santorum," it's the top search result. The candidate's official campaign website appears fourth.
The issue isn't new, but has become even more pressing for Santorum after his Top 2 finish Tuesday. The candidate's last name has been a Google Trend this week, a reflection of the renewed interest in more information about him.
It's now even more surprising that Santorum's campaign hasn't righted the issue, given the importance of a candidate's online presence.
By creating a consistent, keyword-rich online presence for himself, Santorum could have long ago sent his own Web site to the top of Google.
Google isn't in the business of surfacing phony search results on purpose. Its goal is relevance.
Google uses a complicated algorithm to decide which websites appear first on a search results page. One of the clues Google uses is how many websites link to a certain page. The more sites that link to a specific URL, like Santorum's official site, the higher Google ranks it.
Unfortunately for Santorum, each time there is renewed interest in him, there is also renewed interest in his Google problem, which again reinforces the prank definition.
And the former Pennsylvania senator's campaign, a tiny outfit compared to a machine like Romney's, has bungled opportunities to improve search results for his own site.
The fault lies squarely with his campaign, said Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, an influential blog on the search industry.
Sullivan outlined the missteps in a blog post this week, which include the decision to redirect every page on www.ricksantorum.com to a donation page. This move loses any search equity those URLs had built up over time.
"His campaign website has helped, but by dropping the website and pointing everything over to the donation form, it’s as if the Santorum campaign has taken all the 'votes' it's earned over the past few months and tossed them all away," Sullivan writes.
Santorum and the rest of the Republican candidates, minus Michele Bachmann, now focus on Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.
Those voters will also surely be looking for more information before heading to the polls.
Santorum's campaign is surely hoping they steer clear of Google.
______________________
Source giggles every time it sees the word santorum.
Nothing new here, I know, but I couldn't resist posting this.
His biggest foe, though, might be Google.
A candidate's search results page is one of the most important tools on the Web for pointing potential voters to a script written by the campaign in hopes of shaping public perception.
And after his near victory in Iowa on Tuesday, many voters have been searching for more information on Santorum. Many of them have gotten quite the eyeful.
Santorum's Google problem dates back to 2003, when columnist Dan Savage challenged his readers to redefine the then-Pennsylvania senator's last name after he made some anti-gay comments in an interview with the Associated Press.
That definition, which can't be reprinted in its entirety here, is a neologism for the byproduct of a sex act.
If you go to Google and search just "santorum," it's the top search result. The candidate's official campaign website appears fourth.
The issue isn't new, but has become even more pressing for Santorum after his Top 2 finish Tuesday. The candidate's last name has been a Google Trend this week, a reflection of the renewed interest in more information about him.
It's now even more surprising that Santorum's campaign hasn't righted the issue, given the importance of a candidate's online presence.
By creating a consistent, keyword-rich online presence for himself, Santorum could have long ago sent his own Web site to the top of Google.
Google isn't in the business of surfacing phony search results on purpose. Its goal is relevance.
Google uses a complicated algorithm to decide which websites appear first on a search results page. One of the clues Google uses is how many websites link to a certain page. The more sites that link to a specific URL, like Santorum's official site, the higher Google ranks it.
Unfortunately for Santorum, each time there is renewed interest in him, there is also renewed interest in his Google problem, which again reinforces the prank definition.
And the former Pennsylvania senator's campaign, a tiny outfit compared to a machine like Romney's, has bungled opportunities to improve search results for his own site.
The fault lies squarely with his campaign, said Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, an influential blog on the search industry.
Sullivan outlined the missteps in a blog post this week, which include the decision to redirect every page on www.ricksantorum.com to a donation page. This move loses any search equity those URLs had built up over time.
"His campaign website has helped, but by dropping the website and pointing everything over to the donation form, it’s as if the Santorum campaign has taken all the 'votes' it's earned over the past few months and tossed them all away," Sullivan writes.
Santorum and the rest of the Republican candidates, minus Michele Bachmann, now focus on Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.
Those voters will also surely be looking for more information before heading to the polls.
Santorum's campaign is surely hoping they steer clear of Google.
______________________
Source giggles every time it sees the word santorum.
Nothing new here, I know, but I couldn't resist posting this.