Pornographic Hijacking: How to Remove Your Name from Google Search Porn Links

Pornographic websites have created many insidious practices to bring their sites to the top of Google search lists. When my son was in fifth grade and assigned to do a project on World War II, we found that even the most innocuous search terms brought up pornography. "Warsaw Uprising," "World War II Poland," "Warsaw." It didn't matter what we typed, up popped one porn site after another. In the three years since then, search engines have improved their ability to screen links for relevancy, and routine searches on Google turn up much less pornography than previously. Nevertheless, pornographic hijacking, or pornjacking, is still a problem.

I learned through the Google Alert system that my name and Associated Content (AC) articles had been pornjacked. I had signed up for Google Alerts in my name at the suggestion of another AC writer. The reason for signing up for these Google Alerts was to help me detect any plagiarism of my work on the internet. Other AC writers had found some of their articles copied on other sites without their permission. By signing up for Google Alerts, Google will alert you to information turning up in searches containing your name or whatever other alert term you choose. To sign up for a Google Alert, go to http://www.google.com/alerts and fill out the simple form.

Of course my married name is so unique, Carol Gilbert. This means I get alerts on Gilbert, Arizona, an activist nun named Carol Gilbert who keeps getting thrown in jail, a journalist in Ireland named Carol Gilbert and a woman who blogs daily about her husband named Gilbert, among others. "Carol Bengle Gilbert" still brings up many irrelevant terms. I began to wonder whether these alerts would ever prove useful.

The first hint that the Google Alerts were useful came when a travel agency and a manufacturer linked to my articles. These were proper links that enhanced my internet reputation, and I was pleased to discover them.