Cheater! Cheater! Google Eater! #overstock #jcpenney

Official Google Blog: Finding more high-quality sites in search

I don't usually share stuff like this on a blog about politics, however this is politics on a different level, and the fact that two Big Name online retailers, J.C.Penney and Overstock just got caught cheating Google search. Proves, to me at least, that my little whining fest over at Google forums was nothing small.

J.C.Penney Gets Caught Cheating
The company bested millions of sites — and not just in searches for dresses, bedding and area rugs. This striking performance lasted for months, most crucially through the holiday season, when there is a huge spike in online shopping. J. C. Penney even beat out the sites of manufacturers in searches for the products of those manufacturers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1


Overstock Gets Caught Cheating
Google Inc. is penalizing Overstock.com Inc. in its search results after the retailer ran afoul of Google policies that prohibit companies from artificially boosting their ranking in the Internet giant's search engine.Overstock's pages had recently ranked near the top of results for dozens of common searches, including "vacuum cleaners" and "laptop computers." But links to Overstock on Tuesday dropped to the fifth or sixth pages of Google results for many of those categories, greatly reducing the chances that a user would click on its links.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704520504576162753779521700.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Here's me whining, (11) days before, the Wall Street Journal stories broke on official Google forums.
Some of the new Google algorithms kinda sound like what I was whining about, here in Google help forums. Everyone knows that sites cheat, and the ones in the top usually are cheating, cause some are just extremely hard to beat. I wonder if anybody has a valid lawsuit they can file against Overstock and J.C. Penny for running up their cost? It does not take tons of investigative journalism just the ability to spot cheaters..