When you do a Google search (through www.google.com) on Malaysia, you will find some pretty targeted (and accurate) results. But there’s one thing that irks me. 3 out of the Top 5 search results on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for Malaysia are from non-Malaysian sites.

I know that this is pretty irrelevant given that national borders are completely useless over the internet, but still… Anyway, when you switch to www.google.com.my, only 2 out of the Top 5 are from overseas sites: The CIA World Factbook and Geographia.com. I would have expected all of the Top 5 positions being Malaysian sites, but I suppose even Google’s regional targeting gets us so far.

The primary reason for these results is probably a lack of keyword targeting on Malaysia by top Malaysian sites - which is a bit surprising to me. In fact, it is even more surprising not to see the Malaysian Government’s site (not the Tourism Board) in the Top 5, or even the Top 10 for that matter. Thank god we’re not alone though. Do a search on the names of every major country and you’ll find most of them with at least The CIA World Factbook on their Top 5 search results, including Singapore. But if you do check out the SERP for Singapore, you’ll find that only one of their Top 5 is from an overseas site, i.e. The CIA World Factbook. And the Singapore Government’s site is in the Top 5.

All this goes to prove my point that more Malaysian sites should hold the top few positions of Malaysia’s SERP. After all, if Singapore can do it, why can’t we?

I’ve talked about this before, and I’ll do it again. Just when we thought one case was closed, others just pop out of nowhere. First it was click fraud, now it’s official Google Adsense web site look-a-likes.

For those who have been left blank by the previous paragraph, Google Adsense is an advertising program that allows web publishers (such as bloggers) to place Adsense adverts on their pages in return for payment every time someone clicks on an advert. In recent years, a sizable number of Malaysians have committed what is known as click fraud, where webmasters (and/or their friends) repeatedly click on their own adverts to inflate their earnings from Google.

Recently, LiewCF wrote a simple yet clear post on this, with his personal feelings made clear:

I am feeling so disappointed by his so called “simple trick”, which is ruining Malaysia’s reputation in Google.

I concur, but that’s all I’m going to say about this for now. After all, I’ve written a pretty long rant on this already. So, just consider this post as a reminder of my stand against Adsense fraud.