Don’t Be Evil - The Tool that’s Changing Search Results for the Better

Don’t be Evil is a bookmarklet developed by engineers from Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Their aim is twofold:

1. To demonstrate Google’s ubiquitous replacement of what would be deemed the most relevant social results with Google+ links.
2. To provide the means with which we can all explore and modify Google SERPs in order to make them more consistent with Google’s own algorithmic conclusions.

The idea is to highlight where Google could- and should - serve more relevant social results in place of Google+ results which are currently hardcoded into the SERPs. The ‘Don’t be Evil’ tool uses information garnered from Google itself and, as stated by the team at focusontheuser.org, no external APIs were used, nor were any special contracts signed.

There are 2 major points to note then:

1. The tool was built using only information from Google itself
2. Every updated ranking decision was a product of the Google algorithm

The tool is a bookmarklet – a small piece of code which is added to a web browser in order to enable additional functionality. Adding the bookmarklet from focusontheuser.org allows users to modify the Google SERPs, rendering the social results of any given query more relevant.

It works by conducting a search on Google Universal, and applying the results to a Search Plus Your World search. In the video walkthrough, we are given several examples of the usurpation of search real estate by Google+ results where other social listings would be better placed to fulfil Google’s self-asserted remit; to provide the most relevant results for any given term.

In some cases, the appearance of a Google+ profile is rendered even more absurd by the discovery that that particular profile does not rank within the top 100 ranking results within a universal search. When this is the case, the ‘Don’t be Evil’ tool will extract the Google+ profile altogether.

Example: Cooking
When signed in to Google, and searching on Google.com, enter “cooking” into the search box. In the right hand column you will see Jamie Oliver’s Google+ page. AT first glance this seems like a relevant result to display. However, a quick investigation into Jamie Oliver’s social activity shows that his Twitter profile is far more up to date and far more popular than his Google+ page. What's more, his Twitter profile ranks far higher within universal search results in comparison with his Google+ equivalent.

Try the same search again, only this time hit the ‘Don’t be Evil’ bookmarklet. Twitter now appears as the most relevant social ranking, and reflects Google’s own assertion within the universal SERPs.

This process applies to a wide variety of searches; other examples included at focusontheuser.org include “music”, “photography”, and a couple of well-known industry experts.

Other issues raised by the tool include the absence of LinkedIn or Twitter profile pictures within Google SERPs, despite the search engine’s possession of and access to such information (see Google’s Rich Snippets Testing Tool). While Google+ profile images are displayed, the same credence is not given to other social media platforms.

Try it out for yourself, and discover how much more relevant Google could be if they would only follow their own guidelines, and apply their algorithm across all aspects of Google search.