A reader sent us a problem he has with Google’s Search Suggestions. In short, his main issue is that when a searcher is looking for an adult web site, Google will suggest alternative sites, as to not show adult related search suggestions.

Here is an example of entering in [adultfriend] and expecting to see the popular adult site, adultfriendfinder.com, but yet not seeing it in the search suggestions:

I am kind of to blame for this, I admit it. Back in February, I pointed out at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google shows adult and pornographic sites in the default search suggestions. I asked, should Google be doing this? A month later, I noticed that Google began adding an adult filter to those search suggestions.

This reader feels that this is unfair to the adult space. Why should Google suggest an alternative site for a site that Google knows the searcher is looking for? This reader suggests that Google should simply not show search suggestions in the case where the number one site is an adult site. I kind of think that is a fair balance. If the number one site for the search suggestion is adult in nature, do not show search suggestions, otherwise show them, without any adult suggestions. This is clearly a larger issue now that Google Suggest is the default.

I emailed Google for a comment, but have not yet heard back from them on this matter.

What do you think?

Related Topics: Google: Web Search

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz