Bitcoin.org, a website registered by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto that was handed over before he disappeared, is now behind a pro-Bitcoin Cash (BCH) website on search results for the term “bitcoin.”
According to Cobra Bitcoin, one of the pseudonymous co-owners of the website, the change in rankings happened at about the same time Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube started removing videos on cryptocurrencies.
Around the same time Google started censoring Bitcoin videos, https://t.co/OsFgRFRRZb's performance on Google search dropped from being the #1 result when people search “Bitcoin” to #6. Google is now actively leading users to Roger's scam site ahead of Bitcoin's original site.
— CØ₿RA (@CobraBitcoin) December 26, 2019
YouTube has since claimed removing the videos was a mistake, and is already in the process of reinstating the removed content. Nevertheless a pro-BCH website, Bitcoin.com, is currently still number one for the search term “bitcoin.”
Bitcoin.com is owned by outspoken BCH supporter Roger Ver, who was part of the August 2017 hard fork that helped create the cryptocurrency. Cobra theorized Google is ranking Bitcoin.com above the website registered by Nakamoto as it may be favoring platform publishing content regularly,
Seems their algorithms across the board both in search and YouTube are starting to favour entities that produce regular new content, even if the content is garbage. Just impossible to compete in the web space now unless you have millions to pour into content production.
— CØ₿RA (@CobraBitcoin) December 26, 2019
Bitcoin.com is a for-profit business and runs a dedicate news section updated on a daily basis. Bitcoin.org isn’t for-profit and as such isn’t able to compete by launching its own news section, or to keep updating its content regularly.
Potential Implications
Some believe it is unlikely that Bitcoin.com will remain the first search result for the search term “bitcoin.” Various users replying to Cobra noted that Bitcoin.com isn’t the firm for them at all as search results are somewhat based both on location and previous search history, as well as other factors. Moreover, Google has said in the past it’s always tweaking its algorithms, so changes aren’t permanent.
Nevertheless, some users express concern over Bitcoin.com ranking so highly for “bitcoin” as the website has been known for, in the past, calling Bitcoin Cash “Bitcoin” and calling BTC itself “Bitcoin Core,” which could confuse those new to the space.
Ver has defended BCH is more in line with Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper, and as such ended up changing the cryptocurrencies’ names on its website. Community backlash saw him change it later.
Featured image via Pixabay.
