'Spreading Santorum': Has Rick Santorum Solved Google Problem?

Dan Savage's "Spreading Santorum" drops from Top Google Spot

Spreading Santorum has lost its top spot in Google. Sex columnist Dan Savage's definition of "santorum" ("The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex") has slid off the first page of Google's search results. Rick Santorum and his supporters, who may not have though much about Google's incremental search-algorithm changes, are probably pretty thankful right now.

Maybe they shouldn't rejoice too quickly, though, as we'll see in a moment.

Santorum Remains Smeared on First Google SERP Page

SearchEngineLand's David Sullivan posits that the Santorum SERP reshuffle is due to the recent tweak to the Panda update, which favors "official" pages; as opposed to pages that (sorry) smear Santorum's name.

However, note the high SERP placement of UrbanDictionary's "santorum" definition. Also, blog.spreadingsantorum.com and santorumexposed.com enjoy prominent SERP placement. ricksantorum.com just squeaks into the top five.

Also, Sullivan points out that UrbanDictionary has been rewarded for posting what amounts to recycled content, which is the opposite of what this these algorithm updates are supposed to accomplish.

"Spreading Santorum" is still the top result for "santorum" on Bing and Yahoo.

So, no, Rick Santourm's team has not solved the Google Problem. Indeed, the only time Santorum's own site comes up at the top is as a paid result: never as an organic item.

Also worth considering: what effect has cumulative user behavior had "santorum"'s placement? Surely Rick Santorum's supporters (or those who are Santorum-curious) would google his name and then click on either his official site or a news item about him... but how many are also clicking on Dan Savage's definition of "santorum"?

(Rick Santourm's Google problem began in 2003: Dan Savage coined the new definition of "santorum" in response to the then-Senator's comments equating gay sex to bestiality.)

The screenshot below depicts the SERP result for "santorum", as returned to an unauthenicated user (signed out of all Google tools).

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Santorum on Google: Rick Santorum Still Has a Problem

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