| |
|
 |
White paper - “Google bombing” and what it
can teach us about search engine optimisation |
| Recently there was a new entry in the annals of
Google bombing. Many of you may remember the infamous example
of how the U.S. White House biography of George W Bush was returned
in top place for the search “miserable failure”.
John Prescott MP has been the victim of similar efforts, although
for the sake of those with sensitive souls, we won’t repeat
the relevant search phrase here. |
| So what does this tell us? It should tell us that
search engine optimisation (SEO) isn’t all about stuffing
pages with keywords. We promise you, the phrase “miserable
failure” does not appear in either the content or the
meta tags for George Bush’s biography page. So how is
it done? Google bombing involves creating links to a certain
page using the target keyword in the link. This is a legitimate
method to use to improve search engine rankings, even if it
is a method abused by the Google-bombers. |
| All too often, organisations pay too little attention
to the role that incoming links can play in improving search
engine rankings. And even when they do get incoming links, nine
times out of ten, the link is just the company name or worse
still, an image. This is a wasted opportunity because if the
organisation name is also in the website address, most organisations
will occupy the top position already. |
| It should be noted that for popular search phrases
– unlike “miserable failure” – a few
incoming links using keywords won’t propel your pages
to the top of the results page. But as part of your optimisation
programme as a whole, it can have a positive effect on improving
your search rankings. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
