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?
Google has changed the ranking algorithm, rendering some well known googlebombs inert, including the George Bush one. Presumably, this would also impact methods of fighting googlebombs, since simple counterbombing would be affected as well.
Google works on its search algorithm to prevent things like this.
Letting only anchor text pointing to the page control the results is pretty easy to fix, theoretically. Just check if the text actually appears anywhere on the site, esp. in the site’s title or headers. This easily prevents things like miserable failure, but not so much with “French Military Victories.”
I just meant theoretically. Most of the more famous bombs are old and invalid. Linking to the Straight Dope with anchor text that says “snorkel porn” is less likely to be effective in search engine ranking than linking to a fake site that actually has the keywords “snorkel porn” in its titles and headers.
I think that’s exactly what Shagnasty did. The point is to just click the regular search instead, and you’ll see what’s up. Which Shagnasty probably also did, he being a Doper, after all.
It’s when someone uses dry sarcasm over the internet, and someone else takes the sarcasm seriously. Whoosh is the sound of the joke going over their head.
Whoosh – The sound of something going over another person’s head. Usually used when someone posts a serious (often outraged) reply to a joke. The verb form is to say that the person has “been whooshed.”