A recent report by leading academics at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation noted that the majority of websites that teach a radical form of Islam obtain their traffic via discussions on forums, and real life word of mouth at schools, universities, community centres, etc. Of the top 100 ‘jihad’ sites listed on Google, only one was considered problematic – probably the Wikipedia one:
The experts concluded that any attempt at tackling radical Islam based on improving the search engine rankings of moderate, pro-West Islamic groups would be largely ineffectual. As much as anything else, terrorist sites prefer to remain low-key in an attempt to keep below the intelligence radar, so such measures would be unlikely to cause them any problems.
Typical of the idiots who are running the UK (into the ground), though, is the news that Whitehall officials plan to assist Islamic organisations that offer a positive interpretation of the religion in manipulating search results to improve their rankings. The Office of Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) wants, as part of its anti-radicalisation programme, to ‘flood the internet’ with government approved Islamic groups in order to drown out more radical ones.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the delicate art of improving a website’s visibility and placement in search results so as to boost its exposure. Use of relevant keywords is a fundamental aspect of SEO, with suitable ones being found from pages such as Google’s keywords tool. Worthy of mention, though, is that topping the list of additional keywords to supplement ‘Islam’, is the word ‘war’, so. . . .you know. . . .perhaps these government approved Islamic groups will need to be a bit selective with it if they’re to avoid giving the wrong impression.
Full article in The Register
