Reading over a recent article about amusing and not-so-amusing instances of successful Googlebombs has started me trying to think of what I’d do if anyone ever tried to Googlebomb me. Notwithstanding the fact that someone would have have to be rather bored to want to mess with the search results for some random tech geek from Roanoke, it’s always nice to have a plan.
While reading some of the literature on what a GB is and how it’s accomplished, I’m at a loss to think of ways to combat one that don’t involve counter-spamdexing and generally engaging in the same behavior that created the bomb in the first place…and even with that, the only thing you’d probably succeed at doing is knocking the bombed result down a peg to number two. Given Google’s reluctance to alter results manually even in the case of a confirmed bomb, one’s options seem limited.
Let’s say, for example, that a search for “Roland Orzabal” returns as its first result a blog post detailing the various ways in which I sodomize and torture chinchillas and other small rodents – pure fabrication, I assure you – followed by legitimate results properly extolling my many virtues. What steps might I take to clear my good name with the almighty lords of the search engine?