Simon Cowell Wants to Look Like a Good Guy

For all the straight talking “I don’t care what you think, I will say what I want” attitude he has on TV, it seems to be quite the opposite on the web for Simon Cowell. Observations on certain trends seem to suggest that the former American Idol judge is going out of his way to avoid bad press.

Observers have stated that it is almost impossible to find any bad news about Cowell on Google’s searches and that he probably has something to do with it. An actual test of this allegation seems to confirm it, as any search for “Simon Cowell” does not turn up anything negative about the Briton.

The theory is that Cowell is using an SEO or Search Engine Optimization firm to ensure that nothing but the good stuff turns up on Google. This could be true as any critical news of him only appears after the 20th page on Google’s search results. Casual users wouldn’t go beyond even the 3rd page on any search result. The theory seems to carry even more weight in light of a censorship story.

Apparently a blog slashing Cowell and his behavior was taken down by the host, WordPress. They had explained the action by calling it a violation of the terms and conditions of the website. Although the blog was restored after several hours Hans Ebert, the author of the blog, did some digging to find out the truth. According to Ebert, the complaint had come from an SEO firm that was operating out of Bangalore, India. Further digging revealed that the SEO firm was under contract from a firm in London, England which gets them to monitor news about specific personalities. A spokeswoman for Cowell rubbished the story and denied any knowledge of a person named Ebert.