Matthew Hines wrote an excellent article last week on how malicious software vendors have 'mastered' search engine optimization to the point that, when breaking news hits, they are able to consistently beat legitimate news sites. The problem is that these malicious sites are getting to the top of Google's rankings, thus turning the search engine and people's natural curiosity about current events into a tool to distribute malicious software.

Hines cited some research conducted by Roger Thompson, who is AVG's Chief Research Officer. Thompson specifically focused on the recent earthquake in Samoa. In doing so, he discovered that 50% of Google's top stories contained some form of malicious threat. Sites that host malicious software even beat out such big names as CNN and the Guardian!

Search engines are one of my great loves (I secretly want to name my first child Yoda Google SmartSwipe). The fields of information architecture and search optimization approach obsession, so I feel qualified to discuss some of the issues that this brings up.

It is very important to realize that malicious software developers are not necessarily better at SEO (my most hated acronym) than search professionals. The issue is that they have nothing to lose, so they can use unethical, 'black hat' methods against search engines.

Google is very adept at spotting these black hat techniques, and it promptly delists any offenders. Google's policy is simple - if you cheat, we will delete you. The problem is, when it comes to breaking news, the damage is usually done within hours before bans can be handed out. As long as a black hat page can reach the top of Google's rankings and stay there for a day or two, countless people will be infected and the damage will be done.

Legitimate news sites can not risk being delisted by Google, so they can not use these same kinds of black hat search techniques. Consequently, they fall behind malicious sites when it comes to breaking news.

So, what can be done to combat this?

The classic suggestion is that, when it comes to breaking news, Google should give extra weight to old, well trusted domains. So, when the next breaking news story hits, Google's front page should be a who's who of the biggest names in news. Proponents argue that this will hurt both new and small, niche publishers. They believe that such a scheme would actually hurt the fifth estate because it would discourage new news outlets and cut down on the amount of diversity in the press. They also argue that some of the hungriest reporters who get the best scoops are young reporters, starting their careers at smaller media outlets.

Do you have any ideas on what Google could do to keep serving relevant articles on breaking news stories while protecting its users from malicious software?