Google Trends Attacked

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 by Taylor Pratt

Google Trends Attacked – Again!

It appears Google needs to take Google Trends attacks more seriously. Just six months ago Trends was displaying a Swastika as one of the top searches for the day. Yesterday’s trend showed a plane flying into the Twin Towers:

Google Trends Attack

Google’s statement on such attacks is as follows:

The Hot Trends list is automatically generated by machines and algorithms that detect hot or breaking queries. In this case, it appears that the html code for this query was posted on a popular internet bulletin board, which led to quite a few people searching to find out more about this symbol. The Hot Trends list reflected that surge due to people searching with this query.

Perhaps its time to allocate a few more resources to prevent these types of messages from being spread.

via TechCrunch

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30 comments on “Google Trends Attacked – Again!”

Quilmes Verano Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

We’ll know who’s responisble if we see MARKETINGPILGRIM.COM rank in first place.
R&B Love Songs Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 2:03 pm

Wow, it’s interesting that people are using it to get THAT to the top and not things like promotions of sites as Quilmes said. I guess it might target you easily to get banned
salon equipment wholesale Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

Wow, I didn’t know that google is so wound. This hackers are experts than. How they menage to do that, especially to google.
MySolutionSpot Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 2:54 pm

Very odd. Almost didn’t notice the image.
Utah SEO Pro Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

I’m sure the government issued a code red terrorism alert after this happened.

Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..An Interview with Utah SEO Pro (Jordan Kasteler) by Martin Bowling
Kugrian Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 8:03 pm

Another one I spotted a few minutes ago – http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1672/googletrendsou4.png
Was gone by the time I got to the trends website itself.
52google Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

ok, i se

52google’s last blog post..Model sues Google over mean, nasty blog remarks
Saad Kamal Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 4:03 am

it looks like people were searching a lot for ‘FBI jobs’ as well…

Saad Kamal’s last blog post..Saad’s Hot Picks – Jan 7, 2009
Jacques Seoman Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 7:34 am

That is quite a nasty hack that could be used for blackhat purposes too. I went to the techcrunch post to try get more information, but the thread had degenerated in a political free-for-all….
Nicole Price Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 9:57 am

Yes Jacques, it is a pity that the techcrunch post has turned into a free for all. Not of any use at all other than the main post.

This is a dangerous development and can result in all kinds of problems. I hope that Google will take some action though quite what beats me.

Nicole Price’s last blog post..New Year Resolutions to Help You Save Money
Patrick Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am

Google really needs to put more security measures in place that search terms like those don’t continue to be shown.

Patrick’s last blog post..Pays to Live Green Up for 6 Months!!!
Shirley Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 10:42 am

Wow. Clearly their algorithm needs to be updated on this one. For example, they already filter out ‘bad words’. Why can’t they filter out unrecognized symbols. This really shouldn’t be happening.

Shirley’s last blog post..Google Maps’ Street View Helps Fight Crime!
Milo Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 11:16 am

wow, the news is all about google this week!
all this publicity can’t be doing them any harm!
Genel kultur Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 2:35 pm

it is realy weird.But may be these publicity is real.

Genel kultur’s last blog post..İNSANIN KÖKENİ
PS3 Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

Even if Google employed more resources to monitoring exceptions like the ones we have seen, where would you draw the line on acceptable content. Some thing clearly are, others may be borderline, leading to complaints that Google was manipulating the results.
TehMonster Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

wow y’all are dumb. this is no hack. no single person is capable of doing any of it. it’s a community of at least a couple thousand people or more that band together for a cause. usually, hilarity ensues. I’m no racist, but that KFC bit was pretty funny…
Silvia Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

The technical police is seen to be required and some extra measures to resist such a band.
Hot Trends surprising results | SeoblogR Says:

January 9th, 2009 at 4:35 am

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Pavlicko Says:

January 9th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

Doesn’t surprise me at all. Google does a great job policing everyone else but itself. Still, you’d have thought SOMEONE there would have caught this.

Pavlicko’s last blog post..Evidence that Spamming Google Improves Ranking
mitchell Says:

January 9th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Why is this a big deal? Why is this news at all? Why are people upset about this anyway? The purpose of google trends is to find and display serch trends, not to protect people from “offencive” content. It would be irrisponsible for google to lie about the information they gather just because some kids at 4chan.org are playing a joke.
TehMonster Says:

January 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

^ agreed. everyone’s making a big fuss about this, when really the best way to get trolls to stop trolling is to ignore them. and really if they hire someone to monitor the trends, they’d have to have someone on watch 24/7 because these things hardly take up an hour to happen. one lunch break and BAM, snickersnee is at the top of the chart.
Goran Web Design Says:

January 12th, 2009 at 5:57 am

I don’t know if I agree that Google should control these results more… I mean, Google trends is meant to be objective and offer accurate information.. Where do you draw the line on the srt of censorship you’re suggesting?
Lily Bent Says:

January 12th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

As for me I do not pay much attention to Google Trends. It is much important what is inside of this powerful search engine than what is displayed outside.
Wii Says:

January 13th, 2009 at 4:55 am

Things like this will always happen and even if they are only up for a few seconds someone will see it and get a screenshot. Then it will be all over the net. So policing of it becomes very difficult without vetting every search
John Says:

January 13th, 2009 at 9:40 am

how i missed that, it is interesting to see on related searches, what term are they searching.

John’s last blog post..Busby SEO Test the hard way
thewutzupphilippines Says:

January 16th, 2009 at 4:17 am

i am sure that google have experts working on this matter

thewutzupphilippines’s last blog post..CHR not in favor of testing
DF Marketing SEO Says:

January 16th, 2009 at 9:42 am

Wow, craziness. People need to grow up
Cablare structurata Says:

February 1st, 2009 at 1:20 pm

And recently Google displayed “This site can harm your computer”, inclusive for their own sites.
listers Says:

May 20th, 2009 at 3:13 am

i didn't notice the image…i looked 2 times.the 2nd time i saw it…very odd!
Feet blisters Says:

May 20th, 2009 at 3:15 am

i didn't notice the image…i looked 2 times.the 2nd time i saw it…very odd!

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