The first three Google bombs have already exploded in Bulgaria. Two of them are related to the government. In the first one in 2009, Google's top result for the word "failure" was the website of the Council of Ministers. In 2011, the top result in the search for the word "Gotse" was the website of then President Georgi Parvanov.
Now the site of the cabinet is again targeted, but when searching for the word "resignation". How is Google manipulated? Search engine optimization specialists use two main methods to rank a site higher in search engines.
One is the so-called "onsite SEO", or internal optimization. It makes improvements to the site itself in order to better index. The most common methods are well-structured and described content, correctly placed titles and sub-titles, a sitemap and an internal network of links that link to another part of the web page.
For larger sites, there are also tools for better indexing, offered by Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analitycs, in which the site is added to the search engine database, thus ensuring its complete crawl when searching. Another technique is through meta tags, aimed at making the description on the site understandable to search engines. Due to the widespread use of this method of spam, most search engines practically do not consider meta tags in search. There is also optimization outside the site to which it is applied. It's called "offsite SEO." It adds links to the page on other sites and puts a word to associate the link. This increases the trust in the site and indexes it to a higher position.
The same effect is achieved by placing ads on other sites. This type of optimization is the main means to achieve the Google bomb. "This term originated in the late 1990s with the appearance of the first such case. In it, when searching for the phrase "Worse than Satan himself", the top result of Google is the official page of the technology giant Microsoft.
Since then, Google bombs have been used frequently to show the disagreement of a group of people with a particular policy or person. One of the most popular and long-lasting bombs is related to George W. Bush. For 3 years, when searching for the phrase "incompetent mistake", Google's top result was the biography of George W. Bush, uploaded on the White House website.
This duration is achieved by continuously placing links to his biography, marked with the keyword. Moreover, as a result of the campaign, the biography was a top result in the search for the words "incompetent" and "mistake". The effect of the bomb was removed by the software giant Google itself, which changed the search algorithm especially because of such cases, the "24 Chasa" newspaper points out.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was also the target of a Google bomb during his term. When searching for the phrase "ass internet" in French, the first result was Sarkozy's website. Before him, the whole of French history fell victim to the Google bomb.
When searching for "French military victories" and pressing the "I feel lucky" button, a page that looked like Google appeared, with the caption "Maybe you meant French military losses." The bomb was so widely discussed that search engines came up with sites explaining the joke. Only on the third page of the results was there material about a French military victory, and that was from the French Revolution, where they were at war with themselves.
Tony Blair's biography was the top result in the search for the word "liar." This happened in 2005, but his team reacted quickly and stopped the bomb a month later. Many politicians fall victim to online manipulation during the election campaign. In 2004, US presidential candidate John Kerry was attacked in an unconventional way. Bloggers paid Google to advertise on its official page to appear when searching for the word "waffles." Another unusual campaign was against Mitt Romney.
When searching for photos with the phrase "completely wrong", the first 17 pages of results are entirely with his images. This bomb is still going on. Undoubtedly the most popular Google bomb is the one for Chuck Norris. After the release of a series of jokes about him on the Internet, a playful joke appeared on Google. When you search for Chuck Norris and click the "I feel lucky" button, Google takes you to a page that looks exactly like the search engine itself, which says, "Google won't search for Chuck Norris because it knows you're not looking for him." We strongly advise you to run before he finds you and try a safer search.
Another bomb dropped by Google is former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He was the result of a search for the word "clown." The Creed musicians were described as "the worst band in the world." They themselves were proud of the fact that someone paid so much attention to them and took the time to create a Google bomb.
The Wikipedia article on abortion was the result of a search for the word "murder." The attack was carried out by a group of abortion protesters.
Source: profit.bg