Changes to search algorithm worsen Santorum's Google problem

A website designed to game Google's search algorithm and associate Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum with a sexual neologism has been replaced as the top result when the candidate's last name is queried after the company updated its search methodology earlier this week.

Unfortunately for Santorum, the top result is now a link to the "Urban Dictionary" entry for his name, which references the same crude definition.

The online protest was launched by sex columnist and gay-rights activist Dan Savage, who objected to Santorum's comparison of gay sex to "man on dog" sex in 2003.

Santorum has acknowledged the problem in the past, and requested Google remove the entry from its search results. The company has said that it does not remove webpages from its results except when they include illegal content.

"It's one guy. You know who it is. The Internet allows for this type of vulgarity to circulate. It’s unfortunate that we have someone who obviously has some issues. But he has an opportunity to speak," Santorum told Roll Call.

In August, Santorum complained that the gay community had "gone out on a jihad" against him for his stance against gay marriage.

"So the gay community said, 'He's comparing gay sex to incest and polygamy, how dare he do this,' and they have gone out on a, I would argue, jihad against Rick Santorum since then," the former Pennsylvania senator said at a campaign stop in Spartanburg, S.C.

Savage's website now chronicles instances where Santorum's name in media accounts would constitute a pun if considered using the alternate definition. Jokes about the website have become a staple of Santorum coverage on late night shows like "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."

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