After Google announced its “Search Plus Your World,” many users were unhappy that it only includes social signals from Google+. Because of this, a browser bookmarklet called “Don’t be Evil” was released. This tool, which is created by Focus on the User, changes three parts of “Search Plus Your World”:
- People and Pages Results
- Google+ Sitelinks
- Google+ Suggestions in Autocomplete
How to Install the Don’t be Evil Tool
You can get the tool by visiting Focus on the User and clicking the “Try a More Relevant Google” button. A new window will appear which shows the “Don’t be Devil” button. Click and drag this button to your browser’s bookmarks bar, and that’s it.
The tool works for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, but not on Internet Explorer. Make a Google search when you’re done. Hit the “Don’t be Evil” button afterwards to transform your results.
How Don’t be Evil Works
As Focus on the User pointed out, all results produced by the bookmarklet comes from Google and none of its algorithm was tweaked. However, there are changes that will appear once you use the button.
- People and Pages Result
The biggest issue of “Search Plus Your World” is the inclusion of public figures’ Google+ pages to search results, while scrapping other social media profiles. With “Don’t be Evil,” it shows the celebrity’s most active social media profile and other accounts at the bottom of the search results.
- Google+ Sitelinks
Sitelinks are links to a website’s subpages under a particular Google listing. Under the sitelinks is the associated Google+ profile link. The “Don’t be Evil” button shows another associated social media account rather than a Google+ profile link.
- Google+ Suggestions in Autocomplete
The Google Instant feature suggests queries that you should search for. As for notable people, it includes a link to their Google+ profile. If possible, “Don’t be Evil” transforms this result with the personality’s other social media account.
The fact that Google would favor its own social network makes perfect sense. However, the search engine was created with an idea that it should be fair to all. That’s why it’s a no-brainer that people were unhappy with “Search Plus Your World’s” changes in algorithm. Unless the search engine giant fixes its algorithm, many users will eventually question its reliability.
