Google announced it will be rolling out a new version of its search engine that will be affecting how piracy websites are ranked and presented, RT.com reports.
In an apparent attempt to further crack down on piracy, Google announced changes to be made in its ad formats, search results, and an "improved DMCA demotion signal" for websites who promote pirated content.
In its blog post, Google said their new anti-piracy report "updates many of the numbers from the 2013 version" and includes a few more developments.
Regarding ad formats: "We've been testing new ad formats in search results on queries related to music and movies that help people find legitimate sources of media."
Katherine Oyama, Google's senior copyright counsel, wrote in the blog post, "We're also testing other ways of pointing people to legitimate sources of music and movies."
"In August 2012 we first announced that we would downrank sites for which we received a large number of valid DMCA notices. We've now refined the signal in ways we expect to visibly affect the rankings of some of the most notorious sites. This update will roll out globally starting next week," she added.
Google's report said that the company has received 224 million takedown requests last year, according to Ars Technica, and that the top three sites to have links removed were RapidGator, 4Shared, and Dilandau.
However, Nina Ulloa of Digital Music News writes that the search engine still makes it easy to find and download pirated content.
"It could be a while before we see results, but I tested the waters by searching for the top-selling Billboard albums. I didn't go too deep, just a couple clicks to see how easy it is to find illegal downloads using Google."
Ulloa listed Jason Aldean's "Old Boots, New Dirt" album, a Hozier album, and Barbra Streisand's "Partners" album as among those she found in Google's search results after "just a couple clicks."
"I won't verify that these illegal download links actually work, but I'm pretty sure I could have easily downloaded Hozier, Streisand, and Weezer's albums. I give Google a 2.5/5," Ulloa added.