19. The method of claim 12 wherein generating one or more network metrics indicative of the extent to which the interconnections associated with a web page correspond to patterns of interconnections associated with web pages published in order to manipulate the ranking of a web page by a search engine comprises: processing said generated network data to determine for each of said web pages a value indicative of the extent to which a web page is associated with hyperlinks connecting other web pages which are otherwise poorly connected to each other.
19. The method of claim 12 wherein generating one or more network metrics indicative of the extent to which the interconnections associated with a web page correspond to patterns of interconnections associated with web pages published in order to manipulate the ranking of a web page by a search engine comprises: processing said generated network data to determine for each of said web pages a value indicative of the extent to which a web page is associated with hyperlinks connecting other web pages which are otherwise poorly connected to each other. 21. The method of claim 19 wherein processing generated network data to determine for each of said web pages a value indicative of the extent to which a web page is associated with hyperlinks connecting other web pages which are otherwise poorly connected to each other comprises: associating each of said web pages with co-ordinate data; updating said co-ordinate data so as to cause the co-ordinate data of web pages connected by hyperlinks to identify co-ordinates closer together and to cause co-ordinate data of web pages which are not connected to each other to identify co-ordinates further apart; and calculating for each of said web pages a value indicative of the extent to which a web page is associated with links connecting web pages in different sets of web pages on the basis of the Cartesian lengths of the hyperlinks associated with the web page.