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Google defuses Googlebombs
Ars Technica ^ | January 26, 2007 | Jacqui Cheng

Posted on 01/26/2007 12:10:02 PM PST by Terpfen

Google has finally had it with Googlebombing, the act of hundreds of Internet users linking up specific words with certain web sites in order to produce a desired (and usually comical) search result. The company announced today via its corporate blog that they have finally altered their search engine algorithm to minimize the impact of Googlebombs by improving the way they analyze link structures on web sites.

Google's previous stance on this type of Internet pranking was just that—it was a prank and that they didn't want to get involved in manually altering otherwise-harmless antics on the web. Also called "linkbombing," the most famous Googlebomb was of course the search for the phrase "failure" that produced a link to the current US President, George W. Bush. Some other Googlebombs included associating the search term "waffles" with Senator John Kerry and "talentless hack" with Adam Mathes, but not all Googlebombs were created to slander—some users Googlebombed the word "Jew" to stop pointing to a hate site and instead directed the term to point to the Wikipedia entry on Jewish people.

(Excerpt) Read more at arstechnica.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: google; googlebombing; googlebombs; linkbombing
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Maybe now people will stop reposting that "Google hates Bush" Googlebomb stuff.
1 posted on 01/26/2007 12:10:03 PM PST by Terpfen
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To: Terpfen
associating the search term "waffles" with Senator John Kerry...

Looks like Google decided to do something about it right after the Dems became the subject of these dirty tricks.

2 posted on 01/26/2007 12:12:41 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

So why'd it take them almost three years?


3 posted on 01/26/2007 12:14:18 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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To: Brilliant

...hmmmm...waffles kurry

sounds like a east indian snack


4 posted on 01/26/2007 12:14:35 PM PST by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: Terpfen

See post #2...


5 posted on 01/26/2007 12:14:49 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Carry Daily. Apply Sparingly.)
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To: Brilliant

Yeah! They hate it when their own dirty tricks are used on them don't they? They forget that most of us are more intelligent than they are and usually, once pissed off, more effective at their own games than they are. ;-)


6 posted on 01/26/2007 12:15:38 PM PST by EndWelfareToday (Live free and keep what you earn. - Tancredo '08)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

I was replying to post #2.


7 posted on 01/26/2007 12:16:14 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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8 posted on 01/26/2007 12:18:02 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Terpfen

I read too fast....;-)


9 posted on 01/26/2007 12:18:17 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Carry Daily. Apply Sparingly.)
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To: Brilliant
Waffle House still brings up Kerry's picture.....Just kidding....You libs can start breathing again!
10 posted on 01/26/2007 12:18:32 PM PST by Doctor Raoul ("BOAT PEOPLE" - The result of the last time the Democrats stabbed our allies in the back.)
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To: Brilliant
And just in time for the '08 kickoff, too.

Yup, it's no longer "cute" when it hurts you.

11 posted on 01/26/2007 12:18:52 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Terpfen

It's a lot of work to update the whole system to ignore such things. And, you usually don't want to be messing with a working platform too much (especially if it's making you bazillions of dollars).


12 posted on 01/26/2007 12:19:33 PM PST by farlander (Strategery - sure beats liberalism!)
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To: Terpfen

13 posted on 01/26/2007 12:19:42 PM PST by RockinRight (To compare Congress to drunken sailors is an insult to drunken sailors. - Ronald W. Reagan)
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To: Terpfen

They were probably afraid what would happen if Hillary was elected president.


14 posted on 01/26/2007 12:20:01 PM PST by D-Chivas
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To: Terpfen

"So why'd it take them almost three years?"

Well, the elections are over and do you really think they'll do anything about the links to conservative candidates in 2008?

Just a little PR and perhaps advice from their lawyers. Notice how they claim others are linking not Google?


15 posted on 01/26/2007 12:20:51 PM PST by poobear (Carter & Clinton - 'The Latter Day Church Of Jew Haters & Horndogs')
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To: Terpfen

I was always curious exactly how this was done. How did people link the word to the site?


16 posted on 01/26/2007 12:23:05 PM PST by doodad
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To: Terpfen

Does anyone have the link to their blog?

It might make interesting reading.


17 posted on 01/26/2007 12:32:01 PM PST by theBuckwheat
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To: doodad

Basically, a bunch of people who ran web pages would create a text link to Bush's profile on the White House website, with the clickable text being the desired phrase. Since Google's search algorithm ranks pages and search terms by their prevalence and frequency of occurrence on the pages they index, well, there you go: one coordinated campaign and you've screwed with Google's results.


18 posted on 01/26/2007 12:32:41 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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To: theBuckwheat
The blog entry in question.
19 posted on 01/26/2007 12:33:37 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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To: poobear

A more accurate answer would be their unwillingness to screw with the algorithm that made the company billions of dollars.


20 posted on 01/26/2007 12:34:32 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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