Google Investigating Issue Where Adult Sites Not Ranking For Its Name

Google is investigating a possible issue with its search results where Google is not ranking adult-oriented sites for its brand name in some regions. Instead, Google ranks the adult site’s help and support section above the home page for its name.

The issue started around February 8th and was first reported by Vicky Mills, the in-house SEO from Lovehoney. She shared on X some screenshots of the issue, where it shows the Lovehoney support site ranking for its name but not the home page:

John Mueller from Google responded this morning on X saying, “I’ve been looking into it with the team. I’ll let you know when we have more to share.” He added, “it might just be things that we’ll improve on our side,”

I mean, it looks fine for me when I search for the brand but maybe this is a regional issue?

Here is a screenshot from Vicky showing the drop:

She also shared how this is impacting her competitor:

Here is John’s post:

I’ve been looking into it with the team. I’ll let you know when we have more to share :). (It might just be things that we’ll improve on our side)

— John (@JohnMu) February 19, 2024

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