By Greg Hazley
Google, which said it was "horrified" by a Nov. 28 New York Times piece showing negative online reviews can actually boost companies' coveted positions in search results, said it has deployed a solution.
The Times profiled a Brooklyn eyewear company, DecorMyEyes.com, whose brash owner said he sought to attract negative reviews to raise the company's Google search profile. The paper suggested the owner could be "a pioneer of a new brand of anti-salesmanship – utterly noxious retail" which "tramples long-cherished traditions of customer service, like deference and charm."
Google said Dec. 1 that it convened a team after reading the article, developed an algorithmic solution and deployed it.
"I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google's search results," said Amit Singhal, a Google software engineer.
The article, and a Times piece in October ("Good News, Bad News") sparked conversations among PR pros about the age-old question in the industry: Is all publicity good publicity?
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