Dan Savage give Rick Santorum Serious Problem

Readers of Savage’s column, “Savage Love,” have spent years clicking on the site to move it to the top of Google’s results for a search of Santorum’s name. Some commentors have joked that Santorum may only be running for president in the hopes that new stories about him will lead to more flattering Google results.
Santorum, who served two terms as a Pennsylvania senator before being defeated in 2006, was unknown to many national voters before he finished a very close second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Iowa. The successful finish suddenly and dramatically raised his national profile, and he was the second-highest search term on Google Wednesday morning.
Source: Rick Santorum still haunted by Google problem despite strong showing in Iowa, By Tim Molloy
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/04/rick-santorum-still-haunted-by-google-problem-despite-strong-showing-in-iowa/

The website was put up by Dan Savage in 2003 in response to comments you made about gay marriage. It quickly went viral, and it’s been stuck at the top of Google‘s indexes ever since. The site also hosts a blog where users discuss your stance on gay rights. Savage has now threatened to redefine “Rick,” too, if you run an anti-gay campaign in 2012.
Google has refused to alter the “Santorum” result because it’s an accurate reflection of search traffic and SEO.
“Google’s search results are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the web,” a Google spokesperson said. “Users who want content removed from the Internet should contact the webmaster of the page directly. Once the webmaster takes the page down from the web, it will be removed from Google’s search results through our usual crawling process. We do not remove content from our search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content and violations of our webmaster guidelines.”
Savage’s site went viral on its own steam and tampering with their indexes would go against Google’s policies.
Source: Dear Rick Santorum: 6 Ways to Fix Your Google Problem, by Alex Fitzpatrick
http://mashable.com/2012/01/04/rick-santorum-google-problem/

Years ago, Santorum drew the ire of popular blogger Dan Savage by making some unsavory comments regarding the gay community. During an interview where he stated the position that consenting adults have no expectation of privacy, Santorum equated homosexuality to bigamy and incest. He also made some comments relating homosexuality to bestiality, although he has maintained that the were taken out of context.
Either way, Savage and some other activists were less than pleased. They launched a campaign to redefine the definition of the word “Santorum.” Through SEO tactics and link-trading, they were able to push a website called spreadingsantorum.com to the very top of the Google search results for “Rick Santorum.”
Source: Rick Santorum’s Google Problem Is Not Simply A Google Problem, by Josh Wolford
http://www.webpronews.com/rick-santorums-google-problem-is-not-simply-a-google-problem-2012-01

Santorum has reportedly asked Google to eradicate the revolting search result to no avail. But his Iowa success, the resulting searches of his name, and people clicking on other sites besides “SpreadingSantorum.com” have helped to flush the “ frothy mix” farther down the page:
A Wikipedia entry and Santorum’s own website surged to the top along with the candidate. The general Google rule of thumb is that people tend to click on the first or second link that comes up in a search.
Source: Rick Santorum's Iowa Performance Helps His 'Google Problem'
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/01/04/rick-santorums-iowa-performance-helps-his-google-problem/