Is it going to make the OED?
Any thoughts?

many internet users adore Google. It has become the world's biggest search engine purely on the basis of being a good product, without recourse to expensive marketing campaigns.

This mixture of passion and protectiveness has led to a bit of a flap over allegations that searched results on Google were being fixed.

The claim was that people had worked out how to fool the search engine's ranking system into putting some webpages above others in an attempt to manipulate public opinion.

The term "Googlewashing" was coined to describe the practice. (This should not be confused with the more innocent "Googlewhacking").

Further discussed here
http://www.news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=416852003

fool the search engine's ranking system into putting some webpages above others
Good grief, is that even possible? And how could that affect "public opinion"? Is there a poll on Google sites somewhere? I've never seen a place to vote on one. I like, though, that google seems to have become a verb.

Googlewashing sounds a mite synonymous with hogwashing...seriously.

Hogwash gives 63,400 hits on Google, including http://hogwash.com/, the homepage for Hog Wash Orange Cleaner and Degreaser. I don't think I've ever cleaned or degreased an orange in my life. How do you do this? Is it just a matter of spraying the orange with the cleaner and degreaser?

Bingley

Hog Wash Orange Cleaner and Degreaser

It may be a pithy title, but it's not appeeling, has no zest and gives me the pip.

I suspect it's an orange scented wash for cleaning and degreasing hogs.

Hog Wash Orange Cleaner and Degreaser

They also have Hogwash Wallpaper (but the link won't work).
Hogwash Wallpaper!...what a great idea! We could print-out all the Hogwash® games he ever hosted, make a wallpaper pattern out of them, have one of those secret home decorations, and surprise tswum for his birthday!

Or maybe one of these would make a cute wallpaper design:

http://www.galleryamericana.com/BullasPor-hogwash.jpg

http://www.themesshed.com/hogwash1.jpg

The Hogmaster® would feel right at home!

those are great, WO'N!

Orange cleaner, and there are a ton of them in the stores these days, are cleaning products that have orange oil, presumeably extracted from the rind, as an active ingredient. I don't know if it's more effective than traditional cleaners but it has been a "hot item" in retail for a couple of years now, starting with "As Seen on TV" infomercials. It has been an active ingredient in "Goo Gone" for years, and I know for a fact that Goo Gone is excellent for removing adhesive messes.
-Joanna (just the facts) Friday

..a woman after my own hearth.
-joe (crossfire) ingle

a woman after my own hearth.
SIGH--some women have all the luck!

--Musick, do you remember the orange oil based hand cleaner packets that that xerox had for its techs? Did your father use it?

most cleaners work on the like disolves like for cleaning, so soaps (and detergents) are oilly products, that are used to dissolve other oils, and then wash away..

some oils are better than others.. olive is a very soft oil, and has been used for cleaning for eons, (and is still used in castile soap) orange oil is fragrent, and does a good job, and is just the latest rage. it is not as mild as one thinks, (it has a high acid content) and dries out your skin.

Just meandering back to the original post....I had thought Google listings were random, somehow - but I recently learned that different companies can pay (through the nose, mind you) to have their website appear as the first or one of the highest for certain key words or searches.

How did I learn this? That is how the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, aka KEDCO, has decided, in its infinite wisdom , to advertise the City of Kingston. Part of the new ad campaign says, "From the sheets to the streets!" Does this sound just a little tacky and racy both, to anyone else?! I suppose it could have been worse, it could have been the other way around....

Just meandering back to the original post....I had thought Google listings were random, somehow - but I recently learned that different companies can pay (through the nose, mind you) to have their website appear as the first or one of the highest for certain key words or searches.
How did I learn this? That is how the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, aka KEDCO, has decided, in its infinite wisdom , to advertise the City of Kingston. Part of the new ad campaign says, "From the sheets to the streets!" Does this sound just a little tacky and racy both, to anyone else?! I suppose it could have been worse, it could have been the other way around....


These paid links are not the same as googlewashing, and Google's jhandling of the paid links is eminently ethical and above-board. They do not show up unannounced at the top of a search. Instead, they are clearly boxed and listed as sponsored links.

For an example of googlewashing in action ( a very different animal) see this link:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30087.html

Well, I looked at the link, sjm. I'm not at all sure I understood it, though. It seems to be saying that for some reason Google takes more notice of (some?)blogs than it does of other sites, but doesn't actually explain why (or maybe it does -- some parts were just incomprehensible).

I've seen blogs occasionally. They seem to be a sort of private AWAD. The owner gives his or her thought for the day and then other people discuss it in thread view. I don't see why they would get priority in Google searches though.

Bingley