Google designed its new ‘pirate penalty’ search algorithm to spare YouTube

When Google (GOOG) announced late last week that it would start demoting websites that were repeatedly flagged for copyright violations, it raised a very pertinent question: Does this mean Google will start demoting YouTube results as well? The folks over at Search Engine LandsDanny Sullivan did some terrific work over the weekend trying to figure this out, and discovered that Google has written a sort of get out of jail free card for YouTube and other popular content-sharing sites whose users frequently run afoul of copyright laws.

A Google spokesman told Search Engine Landthat although Googles new algorithmsare treating YouTube like any other site in search rankings, the company did not expect this change to demote results for popular user-generated content sites such as YouTube,... [via Boy Genius Report]