Google bombing (aka link bombing) is a term that refers to the use of many, many links with identical link text to boost the ranking of a particular page for the search term(s) in the link text. Basically, it’s a search engine optimization tactic used to game the search engines.

Why is it called “Google Bombing?”

It’s called Google bombing because it is especially effective with Google, although basically every search engine uses some kind of link popularity algorithm to determine its results.

Bombing, Graffiti, Deception

The reason bombing is in the name is that people often use this tactic for political, revenge, or goof-off purposes. One of the most famous political Google bombs is a search for “miserable failure.” Enough sites and links use this link text and point at George Bush’s Biography that it comes up as the number one search result. Daniel Brandt is fighting a smear campaign that utilizes Google bombing. Finally, do a search for “French military victories” - a geeky prank brings up a fake search results page that claims the French have no military victories.

Google Bombing = Black Hat. Link Building = White Hat

It’s interesting that Google bombing is exactly the same as a link building campaign. Bombing is unethical, but link building is not. So use the examples of the bombers to work for good purposes. Use correct link text and be constructive instead of smearing people’s good names and messing up search results. Be a good guy and wear a white SEO hat.

More Links on Google Bombs:

• Wikipedia on Google bombs
• Ramifications of Google bombs on Search
• List of famous Google bombs