The History of the GoogleBomb And Google's Response To It, Part 2 of 3 June 20, 2011 | Posted in Ken's Blog | Leave a Comment

Ken's Blog

We covered the first half of the 10-year history of the Googlebomb a few days ago. What do we have to show for it, so far?...

After 5 years, Google finally admitted the existence of a Googlebomb! There was, though, no ETA for a comprehensive resolution of the problem. Then came an event that many people remember as "the day Google fixed the bomb."

Their memory of this day is wrong. "Evolving opaque transparency" reaches new heights. As we shall see...

1) Google is the master of saying one thing (i.e., "we have begun minimizing," whatever that means), while...

2) Folks take away a different meaning (i.e., "Google kills bomb").

To this day, there is no ETA for a definitive Googlebomb fix. And Google no longer denies its existence. It merely denies that it's a problem.

Today marks the pivotal turning point in this 10-Year history. Let's pick it up 15 months after Marissa Mayer's "admit and trivialize" pronouncements (5.75 years ago)...

 

4.5 Years Ago

January 25, 2007
Google "Minimizes" The Bomb (by Ryan Moulton and Kendra Carattini in Google Webmaster Central Blog)

A quick word about Googlebombs

A mere 3+ years after "miserable failure" was reported, Google reports the bomb as being "minimized"...

"By improving our analysis of the link structure of the web, Google has begun minimizing the impact of many Googlebombs."

Note that it is not "fixed." Nor has it been "minimized."

Google has merely "begun minimizing the impact."

Google communicates at 2 levels. The superficial reader takes away the meaning that s/he is supposed to have. Most read at this level. Careful "Google-parsing," though, can reveal a very different story.

TIP FOR READING GOOGLESPEAK: Google gives the impression of open, casual communication. But no word or meaning of any significance is released without careful vetting.

With that in mind, let's review their announcement (above) in detail...

The History of the GoogleBomb And Google's Response To It, Part 1 of 3 June 16, 2011 | Posted in Ken's Blog | Leave a Comment

Ken's Blog

The Googlebomb has a fascinating 10+ year history to it. Google's reaction to the ones that "go public" is perhaps even more fascinating.

I think you'll find this to be a surprising look at the inner thinking of Google. What may be seem reasonable and believable at one particular moment in time turns out to be quite the opposite with the luxury of reviewing a longer sweep of history.

We tend to think of Google as an open, transparent, webmaster-friendly company.

That's what we are supposed to think. The reality, it turns out, is far from the perception.

The next 3 posts cover the 10-year history of the Googlebomb and Google's attempted explanations (AKA "coverups") to their public "bombarrassments."

Panda, Googlebombs and Google Doublespeak June 14, 2011 | Posted in Ken's Blog | Leave a Comment

Ken's Blog

This past week, Google let it be known that Panda 2.2 would be released soon. Some particular "Google doublespeak" reminded me of the same code words used when Googlebombs "detonate" publicly...

Wrong Keywords, Wrong Results June 12, 2011 | Posted in E-Business Tips | Leave a Comment

E-Business Tips

Proper keyword research is one of the most important elements of building a profitable online business. Keywords are the lynchpins to your success.

Target the wrong keywords, and you'll get the wrong results. If all your keywords are highly competitive or generic, you'll find it very difficult to start traffic-building momentum.

Traffic starts by "eating at the edges." Win the battles for the less competitive words first (generally tier 3 pages, but occasionally tier 2, depending on how the topics lay out best for your site)....

As your site grows, as off-page criteria grow, your overall rankings for all keywords rise steadily over time. For example, in the beginning anguilla-beaches.com never ranked in the Top 1000 for Anguilla. Over time, as the site grew, more and more people found and loved this site and gave links from other sites about Anguilla. And, of course, all the off-page criteria grew. Result...

The site's most important keyword, "Anguilla" steadily rose from "no show" to 500 to 100 to "Top 10." The key point... it happened without changing the content on that page!

Build your site. Deliver great content for a wide variety of keywords, including some easy-to-win ones that fit with your site. Good things happen!