Brian Souter, the Perth based businessman behind the Stagecoach transportation empire, is hitting out at Google after his personal website was removed from their search engine.
www.briansouter.com has disappeared entirely from the search firms rankings even though it was previously well ranked and remains highly placed on rival search sites such as Bing and Yahoo.
Believing his site has been deliberately de-listed Souter is seeking answers, alleging that his case represents Google’s manipulation of the web and restrictions on free speech.
Souter’s media adviser, Gordon Beattie said: "It's not Google's place to decide which sites we can see and those we can't. It amounts to search engine censorship and it does not afford what Google says it is striving to create — 'a good user experience.'
"We wrote to Google on August 22 asking why Sir Brian's site was no longer listed on the search engine and the mumbled response was algorithm changes. They suggested one tweak to the website, which we immediately made, but to this day his site remains out of bounds on Google searches.
"We find it unacceptable that Google can simply remove an information site like Sir Brian's from its listings and give no helpful information as to why it has disappeared. We are now asking the question: 'Is it time legislation was enacted to curb Google's power over free speech on the internet?'
Comments
This is both trivial and hilarious. Who cares? I'd doubt very much whether Google have even heard of Brian Souter... I love his conspiracy theory though. The man has lost the plot. And it's amusing to see Gordon Beattie muscling in on something he clearly knows seven twelfths of bugger all about. Guys, google Brian Souter, and his site comes up 2nd on my computer. Maybe Souter and Beattie need some IT training.
comments
Correct, his website is second place and the other 10 listings on the first google page are all about him, what does he want????
Bugger off Brian
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