Barack Obama, Google, and This Website

I pay my first visit to the "Googleplex" in a few days and thought I'd prepare by seeing how this website, www.DanielPipes.org, does in Google's rankings. I started out with the hot name of the moment, "Barack Obama," and was midly stunned to see that I come in #5, following only Obama's campaign site, his Senate site, Wikipedia, and Reuters – and ahead of nearly 61 million other entries.

The "Googleplex" in Mountain View, California.

That got me to looking up the names of other individuals about whom I have written. Time and again, www.DanielPipes.org comes up on the first page. Here are some results, from lowest to highest ranking, recalling that these listings change from moment to moment and machine to machine:

• Ken Livingstone – #12 out of 2,350,000 entries.
• Mearsheimer-Walt – #10 out of 21,000 entries.
• Siraj Wahhaj – #8 out of 33,100 entries.
• Ibrahim Hooper – #7 out of 45,300 entries.
• Barack Obama – #5 out of 60,700,000 entries.
• Hamid Dabashi – #4 out of 54,600 entries.
• Tariq Ramadan – #4 out of 504,000 entries.
• Salman Rushdie – #4 out of 2,860,000 entries.
• Omid Safi – #3 out of 12,200 entries.
• Kamal Nawash – #3 out of 15,000 entries.
• Barry Chamish – #3 out of 38,000 entries
• Rashid Khalidi – #3 out of 116,000 entries.
• Lorraine Ali - #3 out of 756,000 entries
• Kamran Bokhari – #2 out of 3,700 entries.
• Louay Safi – #2 out of 9,000 entries.
• Jamil Al-Amin – #2 out of 12,700 entries.
• Hussein Ibish – #2 out of 18,300 entries.
• Lorraine Ali – #2 out of 35,500 entries.
• Khaled Abou El Fadl - #1 out of 44,800 entries.

I also checked some Islamist organizations and found a similar pattern:

• Muslim Public Affairs Council – #9 out of 46,800 entries.
• Council on American-Islamic Relations – #6 out of 291,000 entries.
• Canadian Islamic Congress – #4 out of 41,700 entries.
• Progressive Muslim Union – #3 out of 10,200 entries.
• Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy – #3 out of 14,500 entries.
• American Muslim Council – #3 out of 31,900 entries.
• Khalil Gibran International Academy – #3 out of 50,200 entries.

Comments:

(1) At a time when Google arguably is the world's single most important source of information, these rankings inspire me to stay hard at work.

(2) Many of the names above are those of my opponents; I am glad to know that I have a role in defining their public reputation. (June 9, 2008)

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