The Google API has been well received and numerous applications and scripts have sprung up to take advantage of it. One of the most popular uses of the API has been to create "Google Boxes" that show the top ten results for a query on a particular topic. For example, scripting.com shows the top ten results for the term "scripting" or the top ten linkers to scripting.com. Scripting.com, like many other sites that display similar query results, is a weblog, and Google knows that weblogs change frequently, so it indexes them frequently.

Remember that Google uses links as votes, which in turn determine relevancy. By embedding these "Google Boxes" sites are creating recursive link structures. In other words, sites are querying Google to find the most authoritative links on a topic and then creating links to the results, which in turns makes them authoritative. The rating system is essentially feeding itself. [/] kuro5hin.org