An update on Google Algorithm

Google aim to provide a great experience for our users and have developed over 200 signals to ensure our search algorithms deliver the best possible results. Starting next week, Google will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices Google receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results. This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily—whether it’s a song previewed on NPR’s music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed fromSpotify.

Since Google re-booted our copyright removals over two years ago, Google have been given much more data by copyright owners about infringing content online. In fact, Now receiving and processing more copyright removal notices every day than we did in all of 2009—more than 4.3 million URLs in the last 30 days alone. Google will now be using this data as a signal in our search rankings. 

Only copyright holders know if something is authorized, and only courts can decide if a copyright has been infringed; Google cannot determine whether a particular webpage does or does not violate copyright law. So while this new signal will influence the ranking of some search results, Google won’t be removing any pages from search results unless Google receive a valid copyright removal notice from the rights owner. And Google’ll continue to provide "counter-notice" tools so that those who believe their content has been wrongly removed can get it reinstated. We’ll also continue to betransparent about copyright removals.