Google Ranks Fake NanoClaw Site Above the Real Project Despite 18K GitHub Stars
The developer of NanoClaw, an open-source AI agent platform, says Google is ranking a fake website above his real project site, even though the legitimate project has over 18,000 GitHub stars, press coverage, and properly implemented structured data.
In tests conducted on March 5, an impostor site occupied the top spot on Google for searches of “NanoClaw.” The real site, nanoclaw.dev, didn’t appear within the first several pages of search results. The problem extends beyond Google, with the fake site ranking highly on DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave, and other engines.
What’s Happening
Gavriel Cohen, a software engineer and former Wix developer, shared the issue in a thread on X. Cohen launched NanoClaw in early February as a security-focused alternative to the viral AI platform OpenClaw. The project quickly gained attention, earning coverage from VentureBeat and The Register, as well as praise from AI researcher Andrej Karpathy.
On February 8, someone registered nanoclaw.net and auto-generated a site by scraping the project’s GitHub README. At the time, Cohen hadn’t launched an official website—the GitHub repository served as the project’s home.
As press coverage grew, Cohen started receiving messages about issues with the fake website. To address the problem, he built nanoclaw.dev and took standard SEO and remediation steps:
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Linked the real site from the GitHub repo.
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Added structured data to the website.
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Submitted the site to Google Search Console.
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Filed takedown notices with Google, Cloudflare, and the domain registrar.
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Ensured publications covering the project linked to the official site.
Despite these efforts, as of March 5, the impostor site still outranks the real one. Cohen noted that the fake site displays factually incorrect information and falsifies publication dates, calling the situation a “live, active security risk” since malicious content could be added at any time.
A Hacker News thread about the issue quickly gained traction, reaching 315 points and over 150 comments.
The Problem Extends Across Search Engines
Hacker News commenters reported similar results on other platforms:
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DuckDuckGo: Fake site ranked #1, real site absent.
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Kagi: Fake site #3.
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Bing, Brave, Ecosia, Qwant: Fake site in top positions.
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Mojeek: Only engine tested that ranked the real site above the fake.
Why This Matters
Google’s John Mueller has previously said that copied content consistently outranking the original may indicate a site quality problem, suggesting site owners reassess overall quality.
Cohen’s case challenges that logic. NanoClaw has clear signals favoring the real site:
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18,000 GitHub stars.
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Coverage from CNBC, VentureBeat, and The Register.
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Endorsement from Andrej Karpathy.
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Social media profiles and the GitHub repo all point to the correct site.
The fact that multiple search engines rank the fake site higher suggests the issue may be timing-related. The impostor site was indexed before the official domain launched, giving it a first-mover advantage in search results.
For new projects, the key takeaway is the importance of domain registration timing. Shipping code before launching a website is standard in open source, but search engines may index a competing or fake site first, making remediation more difficult.
Looking Ahead
Cohen hasn’t reported whether Google has responded to his takedown requests. SEO practitioners in the Hacker News thread suggested mapping the fake site’s backlinks and reaching out to publications that linked incorrectly.
As of now, the situation remains unresolved, with Google yet to comment publicly.