On Tuesday, Breitbart News, the far-right, pro-Trump website well known for promoting alt-right content, published an article accusing Google of purging their political articles from search results to dilute their traffic.
"On April 4, 2016, Breitbart ranked in the top ten search positions (i.e., on the first page of Google search results) for 355 key search terms; but now, as of July 20, 2020, Breitbart ranks in the top ten search position for only one search term," wrote Allum Bokhari. "And, on April 4, 2016, Breitbart ranked in the top 100 search positions for 16,820 key search terms; but now, as of July 20, 2020, Breitbart ranks in the top ten search positions for only 55 search terms."
"Breitbart News spoke to an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert, a 25-year industry veteran, whose job consists of analyzing traffic data from Google’s own website performance portal, Google Search Console," continued the article. "The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had never seen anything like this graph — and that it indicates highly probable manipulation on the part of Google."
Breitbart, whose former co-founder Steve Bannon previously served on the Trump campaign and then as White House chief strategist, has at times been promoted on major tech platforms, with Facebook listing it under its "high quality" news tab in 2019.
However, increasing public scrutiny, and a relentless multi-year advertiser boycott that has deprived Breitbart of over 4,000 sponsors, has gradually chipped away at Breitbart's online influence.
