Google Maps Lists The White House & Howard University For Racists Terms

Where previous Google Maps hacks were arguably playful, this is ugly.

It’s one thing to see pictures of Android mascots urinating or references to Edward Snowden on Google Maps, it’s quite another to see it used as a tool of racism. That’s what happened this afternoon as selected racist queries on Google Maps point to the Obama White House.

The story comes from several sources but is laid out in the Washington Post. I couldn’t reproduce the all the results being discussed but when I searched on “n— king, Washington DC” the White House is the result.

Apologizing for the recent spate of problems, but especially this one, Google offered the following official comment:

Some inappropriate results are surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologize for any offense this may have caused. Our teams are working to fix this issue quickly.

Google had previously shut down Map Maker to try and prevent just these sorts of problems and mapspam from arising. But these examples are not related to Map Maker, Google tells us.

Google deals with scores of hack attempts on Maps all the time and it prevents the majority from showing up. However when one like this gets though it gets a great deal of attention and serves to encourage copy cats. In the absence of the urinating mascot and Snowden incidents this unfortunate episode might not have happened.

Postscript (May 19): Either the same racist hacker has struck again or it’s a copycat. According to a post by Bryan Seely, this historically black Howard University now shows up as “N–er University” in Google Maps.

Postscript 2 (May 20, 3:30pm ET): As the Huffington Post points out, a different spelling of the N-word will bring up the White House on Google Maps. We’ve verified this still works. Entering that word plus “house” into Google Maps, even from California, zooms directly into the White House:

We’ve also updated the date on our story from May 19, to reflect changes since we originally published.

Postscript 3 (4pm ET): We’re investigating further with Google to better understand exactly how this happened. It doesn’t appear to be something an edit that Map Maker could have caused, but we’re checking.

If not, then what did happen? One thing is that with the White House, it could simply be that the White House will rank for any term that uses the word “House” in it, if you are in the Washington DC area or have your map set to that location.

For example, testing with a slur against Asians will bring the White House up. Searching for “bulls**t house” also brings it up (in the Los Angeles area, that ranks the Coachella music festival as a top listing).

Another thing that could be happening is that because of Google’s use of web-wide data for local results, part of its Pigeon Update last year, references people make across the web could be influencing how local sites are ranking. For example, a search for a slur against Latinos plus “house” in the DC area brings up Hispanic Link DC.

For more about this, see our companion story, Racist Listings In Google Maps That Will Shock You & Why They May Be Happening.

Source: http://goo.gl/FVcVgT

The Google-Twitter Deal Goes Live, Giving Tweets Prominent Placement In Google’s Results

Tweets now appear for trending topics in a new carousel format. Twitter doesn't earn directly off display but will gain new traffic.

The deal between Google and Twitter to bring more tweets into Google’s search results announced earlier this year is finally delivering on its promise. Google is now showing tweets in a new and more graphical way on mobile devices, with desktop promised soon.

Tweets In Carousel, With Images

Both Twitter and Google shared the news in blog posts today, with examples. Below, here’s our own example of how it looks for a search on #iZombie. There’s a “carousel” of tweets at the top of the page, where many of them show large images:

You can slide through the carousel to see other tweets, as shown below:

When, Where & Why Tweets Appear Uncertain

Tweets don’t always appear at the top of the page. Sometimes they might be elsewhere, such as the middle of the page, as this example for “MacBook Pro” shows:

Sometimes, tweets might not appear at all. We asked Google about why tweets might show, what controls exactly where they show, if they’re showing all tweets for a query in chronological order or filtering in some way such as to block obscenity or to surface more popular tweets. The company wouldn’t answer any of those questions.

Google’s blog post on the deal does say:

It’s a great way to get real-time info when something is happening. And it’s another way for organizations and people on Twitter to reach a global audience at the most relevant moments.

So presumably, you’re more likely to see tweets in Google when a hashtag, topic, person or organization appears to be trending or is newsworthy.

For Twitter, Traffic

Twitter tells us that there’s no direct monetization involved. IE, no clicks on tweets at Google will earn Twitter any direct money. So what’s Twitter getting out of this, assuming it’s not being paid a large licensing fee from Google? Traffic.

For example, as shown below, clicking on the “More Tweets” link associated with the new Twitter carousel at Google will launch Twitter on someone’s browser, where they can get see more tweets, see ads from Twitter and be encouraged to download the app or sign-up:

If you do have the app installed, and you’ve set it to handle links from Twitter, then that launches right into the Twitter app experience:

When Twitter accounts are listed, those are also links that lead back to Twitter, as with this example for Taylor Swift:

Clicking on individual tweets also will launch Twitter from Google’s results.

It’s important to note that this is NOT tweets coming into Google for the first time, or the first time since the last formal deal ended. Tweets have continued to be in Google since that last deal. The new deal just allows for more of the and with deeper integration. Our past post explains more about this: FAQ: How Twitter’s New Deal To Bring Tweets To Google Search Works.

Mobile For Now, Desktop Promised

Right now, the new implementation will only be offered for those searching in the US, in English, using either their browser in iOS or Android or the Google Search App. Twitter promises support for desktop and other languages in the coming months.

For even more examples of how the new integration is working, see our companion story, 14 Examples Of The New Tweets Showing Up In Google Search.

Source: http://goo.gl/zHEINz

Google “Phantom” Update Rolling Out Targeting Informational, ‘How-To’ Content

NBC reports that an undisclosed, “phantom” algorithm update is rolling out in Google search right now which is primarily impacting publishers of “how-to” style content.

HubPages, a collection of more than 870,000 miniblogs containing informational content about wide varieties of topics, saw its Google search traffic drop 22 percent from one week to another on May 3.

Websites like eHow, WikiHow, and Answers.com are other sites that have seen significant drops in traffic over the past couple of weeks.

Glenn Gabe, of New Jersey-based G-Squared Interactive, is the one to coin the phrase “Phantom” update because this update came without warning, and Google has yet to acknowledge its existence.

Through analyzing the data, Gabe has determined that this udpdate is not related to Panda or Penguin. However, similar types of “thin” content targeted by Panda are also being targeted by this update.

Gabe points out that clickbait articles, sites with an abundance supplementary information, pages of stacked videos, and pages difficult to navigate have all lost visibility in recent weeks.

This update is said to be “ruthless” in its approach — apparently having no problem punishing entire domains for a few instances of thin content.

“When you have a domain-level algorithm update or ranking change, it can impact the whole site… Pages that should be drawing well could also be pulled down in the results.”

Google has not formally commented on this update, although at SMX Sydney this week Gary Illyes, from Google’s Webmaster Trends team, alluded to there being a recent change that’s part of a core algorithm update.

With Google’s Knowledge Graph being notorious for detracting traffic from sites for “how to” searches, coupled with this “Phantom” update, being a content publisher is more challenging than ever. Even Gabe, who analyzes search data for a living, admits to not being able to predict what business will look like tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.

Have you noticed a significant change in your traffic since the beginning of May? If so, what types of content do you believe was targeted? Details are scarce at this point, so any information we can get is valued.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-phantom-update-rolling-out-targeting-informational-how-to-content/132812/