Proof That Google Has No True Googlebomb Algorithm August 18, 2011 | Posted in Ken's Blog | Leave a Comment

Ken's Blog

"Site Build It! Scam" as Case Study

The previous 3 posts of this blog reviewed the 10+ years of Googlebomb history (over a 3-part series). Two conclusions are inescapable...

• Google has systematically misled the public about the Googlebomb, including the very existence of a "Googlebomb" at the beginning (when many knew otherwise) up to today's sorry policy of manually fixing only those highly publicized bombs that risk the public's confidence in the quality of Google search.

• For those thousands of little-known or unknown bombs that don't make it to "prime-time CNN," Google ignores them. In doing so, Google puts their users at risk of bad, fraudulent results. And Google fails to defend its own "Google Guidelines," the principles upon which they claim to base Google Search (and which they insist we all live by).

Google's "Detect and Defuse" Algorithm  Today?

This is the final post of this blog until Google truly fixes the Googlebomb.

This post will be updated when a Googlebomb algorithm is truly "detecting and defusing" Googlebombs as Google claims to be doing. When that happens, expect behavior to satisfy a minimum of the requirements in the 5-Minute Bomb Algorithm, whenever it is run ("infrequently" or automatically).

We use our own 2.5 year experience as the innocent target of a Googlebomb to illustrate the dangerous user experience that results...

Click to support this and take action now. 

The History of the GoogleBomb And Google's Response To It, Part 3 of 3 July 05, 2011 | Posted in Ken's Blog | Leave a Comment

Ken's Blog

Leaving the "Trivial-But-Fixed" Phase
And Entering "It's Fixed... Really"

In Part 2 of this series, we closed with Google leaving the impression of having fixed the Googlebomb with an algorithm. Algorithms should, of course, detect and defuse new bombs. This is not what happened (nor is it happening today)...

Bombs continued to appear, including the Scientology "dangerous cult" in January, 2008 and a host of political bombs that appeared pretty much "at will" as campaign season rolled into gear during April-May-June 2008.

When publicity heats up, can a "cool it down" announcement by Google be far behind? Sure enough...

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."