Digital & Disinformation: What the SEO Industry Can Do to Fight Manipulation

If you’re reading this, I don’t particularly have to convince you of the importance of search engines. 

You know this. 

Your paychecks are the manifestation of research and analysis. We as humans want answers. 

With schools, libraries, and sources of record all closed or operating by appointment only, we’re doing the best we can: we’re asking Google.

We can spots the more subtle (than dinosaur gender black) elements don’t seem quite right. 

It’s what our clients pay us to do. It’s more important than ever for clients to know and curate how they are represented in search results. 

Silly things happen. 

What do we do when misrepresentations contort from silly to intentional deception? 

What do we do when the fundamental structure of a political system is under threat of disinformation?

What Is Disinformation? 

Disinformation is false or misleading information that is spread deliberately to deceive. 

The information spread is false with the intent to harm a person, social group, organization, or country. It has a sister, mal-information. Mal-information uses information-based in reality in a context intended to inflict harm.

Google publicly addressed the grandeur of government-backed phishing. Smaller but equally as threatening are attempts to alter maps so people can’t find their polling station. The SERPs themselves are a battlefront.

Search Engine Manipulation & Disinformation 

SEO-savvy propagandists can spread disinformation – and even muddy up the search results in many ways.

  • Introducing ambiguation: Think flooding the web with the wrong address or phone number for a competitor’s business location.) 
  • Google Bombing: Think the effort lead by Savage Love author/host Dan Savage against Rick Santorum in the 2004 elections in which Savage encouraged listeners to help him rebrand the literal meaning of Santorum. 
  • 302 Hijacking (which is not supposed to work anymore): A temporary redirect is set up on one site to another, allowing the redirecting page to begin ranking for the target page’s keywords. 
  • Typosquatting on domains and social profiles: This includes the impersonation of famous people. (Thank you blue checkmarks!) Plus hundreds of other tactics and sneaky tricks.
You could argue the entire webspam team is dedicated to fighting disinformation, but there’s another Google team you might not be familiar with. 

Jigsaw is a unit within Google that forecasts and confronts emerging threats. As part of their efforts to research and document disinformation, they paired with Atlantic Council’s DFRLab to create a Data Visualizer tracking disinformation. 

“Search engine manipulation” is listed in Google’s glossary of methods, but no data is available on actual attacks.

The absence is notable, particularly when paired with the disclaimer modal that pops up when opening the tool.

Endorsement and transparency have never particularly been strong suits for Google when it comes to search engine marketing.

It seems a fair response in light of the sordid history of SEO, when it comes to manipulation.

Deep Fake Strategies Pioneered by SEO 

Have you heard of Dr. Bukkake, the renowned facial expert? The name is enough to be a red flag in 2020, but back in 2008, this persona became an SEO legend. 

Dr. Bukkake was a fictional *ahem* “facial dermatologist.” The character had a website complete with fake research and a fake research fund. Real medical sites and funds linked to it!

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