Wash your mouth out Google! Parents warned search giant returns rude word when you use its tool to define 'English person'

Wash your mouth out Google! Parents warned search giant returns rude word when you use its tool to define 'English person' - It's highly offensive - but according to Google just an unfortunate quirk of its search engine algorithm.

Experts have warned that parents should make sure their children don't run a Google define search on an 'English person'.

Why? Because the result, which has been getting more prominent since December, is one of the English language's worst swear words.

This Chinese internet user might get a rude response if he uses Google to try and find the definition of an English person

The define search is a handy Google shortcut tool to return the definition for any word. Users type 'define:' followed by the word they want a definition of.

The results of a search on 'English person' are believed to have started appearing before Christmas after a so-called Googlebomb went off.

A Googlebomb, or Googlewash, is an attempt to influence the ranking of a given site in results returned by the Google search engine.

Due to the way that Google's PageRank algorithm works, a website will be ranked higher if relevant sites link to it and there are related internet searches for it.

Googlebomb: This define search on Google gives a rude result

And when someone sets out to do that by creating links on websites to a target site they can set off a snowball effect on the internet.

Examples of past Googlebombs include the words 'French military victories' which returned a hoax, Google look-a-like page saying 'no results found for French military victories, did you mean French military defeats?'

Another example was if you typed in the Italian word for clown, buffone, the now former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was returned.

HOW TO DEFUSE A BOMB

While Google tinkers with its algorithm, there is another solution for parents concerned about what their children might find on the search engine.

Click the cog icon in the top right corner of the Google page to access search settings.

Then set the SafeSearch filters to the 'Strict' setting.

The result when you type in 'define:English person' will then disappear.

Google says: 'Google uses automated methods to identify objectionable content, and constantly works to improve those methods based on user feedback.

'For sexually explicit content, our filter mainly relies on algorithms that look at many factors, including keywords, links, and images.

'No filter is 100 percent accurate, but SafeSearch should help you avoid most of this type of material.'

Google itself has been the victim of a Googlebomb when the words 'Out of Touch Executives' used to lead to Google's own corporate information page.

The latest Googlebomb is believed to have started in December, when someone intentionally tried to connect searches for the phrase 'define English person' to the specific dirty word.

Countless stories about that bomb and billions of web searches followed, and now the define: shortcut itself has now been connected to the word.

Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of news site SearchEngineLand.com, told FoxNews.com: 'When you type in just define, the results for the word define appear automatically.

'It just appears to be a weird ranking failure with Google. It doesn't happen with Bing.'

In the past, Google has defended its algorithms as simply a reflection of opinion on the web, saying that it is not damaging the overall quality of its services.

Google has also dismissed Googlebombing it as 'cybergraffiti' and just another internet fad.

But in response to the 'English person' bomb, Google told FoxNews.com it is aware of the problem and actively search for a solution. ( dailymail.co.uk )