Google says it will downrank sites that are continually asked to remove copyrighted material

Starting next week, Google will downrank sites that are frequently asked to take down copyrighted material, the search company revealed today.

Starting next week, we will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results.

Google said the change will help users discover “legitimate, quality sources of content more easily.”

Last month, in another blow to sites that deal in copyrighted material, the French Supreme Court ruled that Google must filter out certain piracy-related search terms.