Google’s clout in the search environment is second to none, and this has led to online retailers doing their level best to make sure that on the very first page of Google search results, their brand would be represented in an accurate manner. Murphy’s Law, however, has struck British computer superstore PC World, where viral news site UsVsTh3m picked up a quirk in Google’s search algorithm as a search for ’PC World’ resulted in a result that could cause some of us out there to blush. Other than the standard links to PC World’s home page, there is also a map that depicts nearby branches, while alongside the snippet of information hailed from Wikipedia stood the logo shown above. This embarrassing image originated from an article published in 2008, where it talked about rumoured job cuts in the company’s servicing and repair division, where the words “The Computer Superstore” were replaced with “Like hell, but with worse customer service”.
Of course, there is no formal explanation on why this spoof logo made an appearance in the first place instead of PC World’s official logo, but it could be whittled down to a couple of possibilities – either it is a genuine mistake, or the end result of a dedicated attack. Google has since resolved the issue after PC World contacted Google, so all’s well that ends well.
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