What is Google Bombing?
Google Bombing, also known as Google Bomb or Googlebomb, is the deliberate manipulation of search engine results to produce unexpected or humorous outcomes. This is achieved by creating numerous backlinks with specific anchor texts pointing to a particular webpage, causing it to rank highly for unrelated or surprising search queries.
Notable Examples:
- 1999: The Microsoft homepage ranked for “more evil than Satan himself.”
- 2003: George W. Bush’s biography ranked for “miserable failure.”
Google’s Response:
To combat Google Bombing, Google has updated its algorithms, notably with the “Google Bomb Fix” in 2007, to reduce the effectiveness of such tactics.
Importance in SEO:
Google Bombing highlights the significance of anchor texts in SEO. While Google continues to use anchor texts to understand linked content, over-optimization or irrelevant anchor texts can be detected and penalized.
Relevant Tweet by John Mueller:
John Mueller confirms that Google uses anchor texts to associate pages with search queries: John Mueller’s Tweet.
