Google removes BMW site from index for rules violation
Google Inc. removed the German Web site of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG from its Internet search index, claiming BMW was redirecting users from requested information to another page selling luxury cars.
Pages on BMW.de included hidden software that moved visitors from a page that Google found to another with flashier graphics, a practice that breaks Google's guidelines, Google engineer Matt Cutts wrote in a Feb. 4 posting on his Web site. "That's a violation of our webmaster quality guidelines, specifically the principle of 'Don't deceive your user or present different content to search engines than you display to users,' " Cutts said in his posting.
BMW, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, said the company didn't believe that the content manipulated Google's search engine. The move highlights how Mountain View, California-based Google, the most-used Internet search engine, is willing to exclude Web sites that try manipulate its system.
"This will be a warning," said Danny Sullivan, editor of London-based SearchEngineWatch.com, which tracks the search industry. He said he expects the site to be back in Google within a week. "We've had big companies banned and continue to come back."
Google shares rose $3.53 to $385.08 at 3:12 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The shares have almost doubled in the past year. Shares of BMW added 20 cents to 38.57 euros in Frankfurt today.
Not 'Manipulation'
"We don't view what was on our Web site as manipulation," said Marc Hassinger, a spokesman for Munich-based BMW. He said the company is in contact with Google and is confident its German Web site will be back on Google's indexes.
Companies whose sites are removed from search indexes usually find themselves put back in before too long because users expect to find the sites when they do a search, Sullivan said.
In addition to buying ads that appear next to Google's results, some companies also try to boost their ranking by placing special codes and search terms on Web pages, Google has said.
Debbie Frost, a Google spokeswoman, confirmed that the BMW.de site had been removed from Google and said the company doesn't comment specifically individual cases. She said the quality of the Google index is of "utmost importance" and that the company may temporarily or permanently ban any site that tries to distort their rankings.
Less than one percent of people visiting BMW's German Web site access it through Google, BMW's Hassinger said. The company is increasingly using the Internet to communicate with customers, especially younger ones, he said.
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