First Comment
While it is currently true that what CARM is facing is nothing compared to what Christians around the world are facing regarding Christian persecution the times of being killed, driven from their homes, imprisoned, fined, and undergoing varying forms of cruel persecution are coming here to America.
Yes, to all those “It can’t happen here!” folks it can. And it will.
But if you’re not of the world, no longer of darkness and in darkness, there is nothing to fear…
Ken Pullen, A CROOKED PATH, Thursday, June 9th, 2022
CARM [Christian Apologetics Research Ministry], search engines, Google, and persecution
June 3, 2022
By Matt Slick
Reprinted from CARM
CARM, of course, stands for the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. It began in October 1995 and has enjoyed immense popularity with over 150 million visitors. I have written around 5,000 articles, on many topics, for almost three decades.1 But CARM’s SEO has decreased in the past few years. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. CARM used to be on the first page of a Google search on almost every topic it covered. Now that’s not the case.
Many factors deal with search engine results, but one of them, I am sure, is Google’s attempt to suppress conservative representation. I’m not the only one in Christian ministry who believes this. In addition, I’ve spoken with people who have connections in Google who have reported a systemic and light hostility to conservatives. Therefore, in my opinion, Google has arranged it so that conservative and Christian websites rank lower than others. CARM.org has been significantly affected.
Of course, there are counterarguments. Please consider the article “Google Isn’t Really Biased Against Conservative Websites – Here’s Why.” A quick reading of the article is not convincing. But, plenty of articles support the idea that Google is biased against conservatives.
- Is Google biased against conservatives?
- Lawsuit Alleging Anti-Conservative Bias at Google Ends Quietly
- New Study: Is Google Biased Towards Particular News Sites?
I have conducted my own experiments. You can verify it as well. Take the exact phrase “What is the Trinity?” CARM used to be on the first page in the first, second, or third spot. Now it’s on the second page, 2nd spot on Google. But, searching for the same phrase on other search engines gets a different result – as of 6/2/2022
- AOL.com – 1st page, 1st entry
- bing.com – 1st page, 1st entry.
- duckduckgo.com – 1st page, 1st entry.
- excite.com – 1st page, 1st entry (excluding ads)
- lycos.com – 1st page, 1st entry (excluding ads)
- yahoo.com – 1st page, 1st entry.
- Google.com – 2nd page, 2nd entry
This is significant because Google searches are 92.49% of all searches as of 6/3/2022
CARM used to get over 90,000 pages a day but is now down to about 18,000. Why the difference? Perhaps it is because other websites do similar things. I don’t know. But I do know that our SEO has gone down significantly.
Undoubtedly many people would celebrate CARM’s decreased popularity due to Google suppressing conservative thought. Lots of people hate what CARM stands for.
So, when CARM produces articles against abortion, atheism, LGBTQ+, socialism, and more, I expect it will result in even worse positioning on Google. But, we must speak God’s truth, nonetheless.
Final comment
CARM is hardly facing anything compared to what many Christians all over the world are enduring. They are being killed, driven from their homes, imprisoned, fined, and are undergoing varying forms of cruel persecution. What we had CARM and other conservative organizations are experiencing here in America is nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters are suffering worldwide.
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