April 21, 2004
Google Inc.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Anti-Defamation League
Dear Mr. Foxman:
Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns related to Google's site ranking technology. As a result of several constructive discussions with Senator Charles Schumer, members of his staff, and based on input from you and your team, we are currently looking at various technical modifications - specifically for categories and other auxiliary information.
This is clearly an issue that we care deeply about, and we plan to explore additional ways of addressing it in the future.
We would also like to thank you for posting an explanation on your website noting that a site's ranking in Google's search results are automatically determined by computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query.
I have attached the text we have put on our website that gives users a clear explanation of Google's search results. And I would like to underscore how the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by Google.
We apologize for the upsetting nature of the experience you had using Google and appreciate your taking the time to inform us about it.
Thank you again for your letter and for your invitation to work with you in educating the public about how best to use web search technology and how we can improve our service.
Sincerely,
Sergey Brin
President, Technology
Google Inc.