Google Search Ranking Now Takes Into Account User Reviews

"According to PCWorld, Google has acknowledged it has modified its search engine to identify businesses with poor reviews and lower their search results rankings accordingly.
The move comes after a recent NYTimes story that outlined how one online vendor took advantage of the search engine system. The online eyeware store owner claimed that his site ranking on Google's search results was directly proportional to the number of complaints posted about his business by upset customers.
Vitaly Borker, founder and owner of DecorMyEyes, said, ""I've exploited this opportunity because it works. No matter where they post their negative comments, it helps my return on investment. So I decided, why not use that negativity to my advantage?""
However, Google said Wednesday the tactic will no longer work, noting that its team has developed an algorithm that flags merchants with bad reviews and assigns them lower rankings.
Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow, wrote in a blog post, ""I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google's search results."" Singhal also claims that user complaints did not benefit DecorMyEyes' ranking. Rather, it was news articles discussing the site that propelled it to the top of the rankings.
Google is still working on a way to factor user sentiment into its ranking system without disproportionately affecting the ranking of controversial people or topics."