Jennifer Laycock discusses the possibility that Google manipulates search results it does not agree with politically.    Jennifer provides some evidence that conservative writers and bloggers can’t be indexed easily or get much search traffic.

Another point being used to support the Google dislikes conservatives argument is the difficulty that conservative blogger Michelle Malkin had getting into Google News.

"USA Today reported last year that 98% of contributions made in 2004 by Google employees to political parties went to Democrats, including a $25,000 donation by Google CEO Eric Schmidt."

The problem is that Malkin isn’t the only source that ran into this trouble. Again, our very own Search Engine Guide went several rounds with the Google News team to work through our credentials and get included as a source. I’ve heard time and time again from non-mainstream news outlets about the difficulties they’ve had getting listed as a Google News resource. Difficulty getting past the screening process doesn’t necessarily mean that Google dislikes conservative blogs, it may simply mean that they’re trying to screen all content to make sure that they are letting in only quality news sources. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

The problem is that Malkin isn’t the only source that ran into this trouble. Again, our very own Search Engine Guide went several rounds with the Google News team to work through our credentials and get included as a source. I’ve heard time and time again from non-mainstream news outlets about the difficulties they’ve had getting listed as a Google News resource. Difficulty getting past the screening process doesn’t necessarily mean that Google dislikes conservative blogs, it may simply mean that they’re trying to screen all content to make sure that they are letting in only quality news sources. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

..Also coming into play is the fact that this wouldn’t be the first time that the search engines hand manipulated the search results. One only has to consider the history of the search terms "scientology" or "Jew" to know that Google occasionally steps in and fudges the algorithmic results a little.

….Providing a case in point, CNSNews.com writer Jeff Johnson reported that Google has refused to run ads from a conservative web site owner while running nearly identical ads from a liberal web site. The ads in question linked to information about Republican Tom DeLay and Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The DeLay ads were allowed to run while the Pelosi ads were refused.