Google is set to take a stand against online piracy by changing the way its search results are displayed.

The popular search engine will be tweaking its algorithm and making sure that websites which have had copyright removal notices posted against them are displayed lower in the search results.

The company said they 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.” According to Paidcontent.org, last week Google received over one million such notices.

This will make it harder for people to illegally download music, films and television programmes from the internet. Michael O’Leary of the Motion Picture Association of America issued a statement following Google’s announcement, which said:

We are optimistic that Google’s actions will help steer consumers to the myriad legitimate ways for them to access movies and TV shows online, and away from the rogue cyberlockers, peer-to-peer sites, and other outlaw enterprises that steal the hard work of creators across the globe.

He continued: “We will be watching this development closely – the devil is always in the details – and look forward to Google taking further steps to ensure that its services favour legitimate businesses and creators, not thieves.” [NME]