How Mugshot Sites Create Problems
Mugshot websites typically search government websites and pick up arrest details and photographs (mugshots) of people from them. These website owners will then create landing pages using this information and perform search engine optimization to rank well on search engines. So, when people search for their name on search engines, this result will come up on the top search results if their mugshots were taken earlier for any case. Mugshot websites charge a price between $30 to $400 for people who want to remove the page that shows their mugshots and arrest details. The shocking fact is that even if the person pays a site for removal, their mugshots and other details can be seen on other similar sites. They usually have to pay again to these websites as well. This practice affects the reputation of people whose arrests didn’t lead to a trial or a guilty charge, or those who were found innocent after adjudication.
Being the most popular search engine, Google was a powerful medium for mugshot entrepreneurs to monetize their scraper sites through search results, paid advertising, Google Checkout and Google AdSense. The mugshots that were once hidden behind police CGI search scripts began to be seen prominently on Google search results. Google started its struggle against these sites in 2012 by quietly expelling a group of mugshot websites from AdSense.
The Real Impact of the Mugshot Algorithm
According to a report in New York Times, the prominent mughsot sites Mugshots.com and BustedMugshots.com were affected by the algorithm. The report cited that two mugshots of a victim which were found predominantly on Google image search were removed after the implementation of this new algorithm.
Earlier, experts had suggested that Google could consider removing these sites from the listing to save victims from fraudulent mugshot sites. It is disappointing that this algorithm takes no effort to remove these fraudulent sites completely. We can still find them by simply searching for 'mugshot' on Google as shown below.
Well, the mugshot algorithm may not be a perfect solution in its current form. Let's hope Google will bring new changes to the algorithm to address all the issues and successfully curb the web page optimization done by these sites.