Google tries to defuse “Google bombs”

A “Google bomb” (also written “Googlebomb”) results when a group of people use the way Google ranking algorithms work to cause a search for some name or phrase to turn up a derogatory or humorous result. A famous one was when political opponents got the search entry “George W. Bush” to show “miserable failure”. Another example is that for several years the search “more evil than satan himself” would bring Microsoft’s homepage to the top of the results page. There have been numerous other incidences, including one that cast aspersions on French military prowess. After some years of apparently doing little or nothing to keep this type of thing from happening, Google has announced:

By improving our analysis of the link structure of the web, Google has begun minimizing the impact of many Googlebombs. Now we will typically return commentary, discussions, and articles about the Googlebombs instead.

Let’s see how long it takes before the hackers figure out another way to jigger Google searches.

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Thanks for this info

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