What is Google bombing

Unique articles written by professionals delivered to you daily

What is Google bombing

Google bombing is a technique that consists in obtaining one of the first places on Google in the natural results for a web page or an individual “victim”. The action can occur on the classic search engine or on the image function of Google. The technique uses the complicity of a large number of partner sites that display links with the text of the request for which you want to be in good position. Here are some pointers on what Google bombing is and how to avoid it.

It gets political

The most famous bombing was recorded in 2004. This one targeted the former president of the United States George Bush. It was the Google bombing launched on the query “miserable failure” and which pointed to his biography page on the White House website. Google has made several updates that allow it to easily detect harmful links and classify them as “spam”. Despite this, the problem persists and it is still possible to perform ephemeral Google bombing.

A team effort

A community can link to an article using a particular phrase such as “use Google effectively”. Consequently, Google will assume that this word association is related to the content of the page. Apparently, this is the case even if this particular expression is not used on the page itself.

Don’t go to the dark side

It is quite possible to get to the top of Google’s search results without using Google Bombing or any other Black Hat technique. Make sure that your site is mobile friendly, propose a quality content, set up an effective netlinking strategy, use relevant and appropriate keywords, optimize the performance of your website, including the speed of loading your pages, structure your site and your contents well, optimize your tags and metadata and be present and active on social networks.

Beware the eye of Google

Google does not like the manipulation of its system to get priority in its ranking. It inflicts a series of punishments. As a result, the punished site becomes invisible and remains deprived of traffic from Google. Google uses an algorithm that scans and inspects websites to identify manipulative techniques. The algorithm automatically triggers a penalty for sites that are found to be in violation of Google’s policies.

Remember: although Google bombing has become more and more difficult to achieve, it is advisable not to risk it and avoid this practice.