Google bombing

[4] Google bombing is related to spamdexing, the practice of deliberately modifying HTML to increase the chance of a website being placed close to the beginning of search engine results, or to influence the category to which the page is assigned in a misleading or dishonest manner.

[10] Hugedisk had also unsuccessfully attempted to Google bomb an equally derogatory term to bring up an Al Gore-related site.

After a fair amount of publicity the George W. Bush-related merchandise site retained lawyers and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Hugedisk, thereby ending the Google bomb.

[11] Adam Mathes is credited with coining the term "Google bombing" when he mentioned it in an April 6, 2001, article in the online magazine uber.nu.

For example, talk radio host Alex Jones has often conducted what he calls "Google bombs" by dispatching instructions to his radio/Internet listeners.

The strategy behind this type of Google bombing is to attract attention from the larger mainstream media and influence them to publish content related to the keyword.

[citation needed] Other search engines use similar techniques to rank results and are also affected by Google bombs.

[23]In May 2004, the websites Dark Blue and SearchGuild teamed up to create what they termed the "SEO Challenge" to Google bomb the phrase "nigritude ultramarine".

[24] The contest sparked controversy around the Internet, as some groups worried that search engine optimization (SEO) companies would abuse the techniques used in the competition to alter queries more relevant to the average user.

Promoters using this technique frequently target forums with low reader traffic, in hopes that it will fly under the moderators' radar.

[69] On December 26, 2011, a bomb was started against GoDaddy to remove them from the #1 place on Google for "domain registration" in retaliation for its support for SOPA.

[71] In Australia, one of the first examples of Google bombs was when the keyword "old rice and monkey nuts" was used to generate traffic for Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt's website.

The keyword phrase references the alleged $4 billion in loan deals brokered by Tirath Khemlani to Australia in 1974.

[72] In May 2019, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were targets of multiple Google bombs caused by Reddit users' dissatisfaction with the eighth season of their show Game of Thrones.

[73] In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo was target of Googlebombing on Google Picture Search when typing "Monyet Pakai Jas Hujan" (Monkey Wearing Raincoat) the results were President Joko Widodo wearing green raincoat when on an official visit.