Advert slinger Google has said it's started burying websites that help people illegally download copyrighted stuff.

The web giant claimed today it sinks pro-piracy sites way down its search results – yes, beyond page two, the grim wastelands of the web. It's hoped this may dissuade people from seeking out pirated movies, games, TV and so on, until they discover torrenting or Netflix.

Google already tosses out links to pages from its results if it receives a takedown request from a copyright owner. Now it's tweaked its algorithms to lower a site's placement in the rankings if its pages are routinely DMCA'd – if such sites take the hint, they'll stop attracting bothersome takedown requests, the California company thinks, perhaps.

"In addition to removing pages from search results when notified by copyright owners, Google also factors in the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site as one signal among the hundreds that we take into account when ranking search results," the Chocolate Factory said in its annual piracy report.

"Consequently, sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in search results."

Google said it now receives more copyright takedown requests in a single week than it did in the years 1998 to 2010 combined. The British Recorded Music Industry was the largest complainant last year, submitting 43.3 million takedown requests. Copyright group Degban was second, followed by the RIAA and MarkMonitor's Antipiracy service.

The company said that while it works with copyright owners to keep pirated content off its services, the best way to stem the flow of piracy is to provide users with better streaming media and on-demand services.

"Piracy often arises when consumer demand goes unmet by legitimate supply. As services ranging from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes have demonstrated, the best way to combat piracy is with better and more convenient legitimate services," the company said.

"The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can." ®