Google Bombing: Understanding this controversial search engine optimisation technique

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Google Bombing

Over the years, a number of unfair practices have emerged around the natural referencing.

Such methods make it possible to artificially improve a site's ranking or worsen that of a rival, often at the expense of SEO rules and standards.

These include Google Bombingan approach based on the abusive manipulation of incoming links to influence the positioning of a web page in the results displayed by Google.

Google Bombing: what exactly is it?

Google Bombing can be seen as a kind of bombing designed to temporarily disrupt search algorithms. Its principle is simple: by creating a large number of links pointing to the same target with an identical anchor (the text visible associated with the link), spammers deliberately mislead search engines in order to give greater weight to a specific ranking.

The different forms of Google Bombing

In his book "The Art of SEO", Eric Enge highlights three major categories of Google Bombing. The first is Bombs with legal contentThe aim is generally to give visibility to a subject rather than an individual. For example, in 2004, when someone searched for "miserable failure" on Google, the first result was the official biography of former President George W. Bush.

The second category is Bombs with defamatory contentThese are sites whose authors seek to discredit a person or organisation by associating their name or brand with a derogatory term. For example, a search for "biggest liar" on Google in 2005 revealed that the main site found was that of the singer Michael Jackson.

Finally, the third category concerns Monetary bombs. The aim is to increase the popularity and profitability of a website by optimising its referencing around specific keywords. By using this type of Google Bombing, spammers can hope to capture a significant proportion of the traffic generated by these queries.

How does this technique work?

Google Bombing uses a number of different methods to obtain massive inbound links. These include :

• Link exchange This involves two partner sites mutually agreeing on the creation of backlinks pointing to each other's pages. This practice can be likened to an "exchange of good practices" to improve each other's positioning in search engines.
• Link directories They are designed to list and classify the best sites on the web according to criteria of relevance, quality and popularity. But while some of these directories are serious and in line with good SEO practice, others use abusive strategies to encourage Google Bombing.
• Link farms This is a centralised network of articles or pages that are inorganically linked together to fool search algorithms. Users have since been warned against this practice by Google, which is now considering sanctions for those who adopt it.

What are the impacts and consequences for natural referencing?

For a long time, Google Bombing went relatively unpunished: spammers were able to fool the search engines without fear of reprisals. In recent years, however, the situation has changed with the introduction of measures to punish such abuse.

The search engine battle against Google Bombing

Faced with the continuing development of Google Bombing and its deleterious effects on the reliability of the results displayed, search engines such as Google have gradually strengthened their means of combating this practice. In 2007, for example, the Mountain View company introduced a new algorithm called Hilltopone of the aims of which was to detect bombing behaviour and limit its scope.

More recently, as part of the Google Penguin update, the engine's designers decided to penalise even more sites that abuse inbound links. Today, Google is seeking above all to dissuade fraudsters by systematically penalising any attempts at Google Bombing.

Consequences for natural referencing

First of all, sites that use Google Bombing expose themselves to penalties from search engines. These penalties can go as far as de-indexing their domain or display an alert on their web page warning users of their malicious nature.

Secondly, it goes without saying that Google Bombing has been primarily responsible for a marked deterioration in the quality of the results displayed by Google.

Everyone should therefore be cautious about using such practices: while they may bring a momentary gain in terms of visibility, the negative effects on the long-term future and reputation of the site concerned should not be underestimated.