OPEN

As discussed previously on Open, Democratic activists are leading the charge when it comes to using search engine optimisation (SEO).

One of the top videos in the Viral Video Charts is the “Twilight Zone” attack ad from Vernon Robinson for Congress. It’s easy to see why this would make the charts: Robinson is famous for playing to the right-wing gallery in the most theatrical and provocative of ways. In thirty seconds he manages to vent ire on extremist Islamists, flag-burners, feminists, gays, Mexican immigrants, abortion and liberals in general.

But while stirring up strong feelings seems to be second nature for the Robinson campaign team, managing the candidate’s results page on Google is far beyond their control.

The top five results for “Vernon Robinson” in Google return his campaign website in the first two positions, a Wikipedia article in three and then www.crooksandliars.com and a blog post about “gay baiting”.