Axandra news archive: 30 January 2007

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Google bombs have become a problem for Google. The official Google webmaster blog recently had a statement about Google bombs and how Google deals with them.

What are Google bombs?

Google bombs are Internet pranks. Google heavily relies on the number and the type of links that point to a web site. If many web sites link with a special search term to a web site then the linked web site will get a top ranking on Google for that search term.

Some people abused this behavior of Google's ranking algorithm to get web sites to the top of the search results that normally shouldn't be there.

It works like this:

A webmaster decides that a web site should have a top Google ranking for a special search term. The webmaster links to the web site with that search term and asks all of his friends to also link to that web site with that special search term. His friends also link to the site and they ask their other friends to link with that search term to the web site, and so on.

Now that many different sites link to the web site with that search term, Google thinks that the web site must be very relevant for that search term.

The most famous Google bomb is the miserable failure Google bomb. For several months, the official home page of George Bush was the first result on Google for the search term "miserable failure".

What did Google do about the Google bomb problem?

Last Thursday, Google decided to do something against Google bombs:

"These pranks are normally for phrases that are well off the beaten path, they haven't been a very high priority for us. But over time, we've seen more people assume that they are Google's opinion, or that Google has hand-coded the results for these Googlebombed queries. [...]

So a few of us who work here got together and came up with an algorithm that minimizes the impact of many Googlebombs."

That means that most Google bombs shouldn't work anymore. The new algorithm is probably an extension of the algorithm that detects unnatural linking patterns.

What does this mean to your web site?

Inbound links are very important if you want to get high rankings on Google. It's important to optimize your web pages so that they are relevant to a special search term but it is equally important -- if not more important -- to get high quality links to your web site.

A web site can only get high rankings on Google if it has good inbound links in addition to good content. However, it is important that you get the right links.

If the links to your web site have an unnatural pattern then Google probably won't count these links. If you get many links with exactly the same link text in a short time period then these links might be interpreted as a Google bombing attempt.

Links to your web site are very important if you want to get high rankings on Google. You must get good inbound links to succeed with Google. It's important that you get the right links to your web site. Details can be found in our free eBook "How to get high quality inbound links".

"The 'undetectable' claim brought up fond memories of another time someone claimed to me that their spam was undetectable. It was November 2002, so cue up the wavy time-warp special effect and let’s go back in time. [...]

As you might be able to guess, I was easily able to find all of the fellow’s 'undetectable' doorway pages and all of his clients with a single Google query — I didn’t even have to use any of my internal tools. I still chuckle when I hear the word 'undetectable.'"

Search engine statistics for December 2006

"Top search providers, ranked by total searches: Google ( 50.8%), Yahoo! (23.6%), MSN/Windows Live Search (8,4%), AOL Search (6.1%), My Way Search (2.4%), Ask.com (2.1%)."

Google Video selling Page Rank

"In another example of nofollow gone stupid, Google Video homepage has decided to nofollow all its links, with the exception of the ones to its advertising partners videos. [...]

Google Video trying to game the other engines through the improper use of nofollow on its paid links."

Search engine newslets

• Overture's keyword suggestion tool is currently offline.
• Google tests Google Checkout buttons in AdWords.
• eBay holds its turf against Google.
• MSN updates its adCenter.
• Leaders look to engage on Yahoo! Answers.
• Google Checkout sucks - PayPal has no worries.
• YouTube and Wikipedia storm to top brand ranking.
• Gates, Google convene In Switzerland.
• Judge cool to a grumble over Google.
• New sunrise layer on Google Earth.
• Google Earth as a virtual world.
• MSN ad revenue increases 20%.

Microsoft 'not happy' with search results

"Microsoft is continuing to lose market share in the search business to industry rival Google, something the software maker's financial chief said Thursday he is 'not happy' about."

The search tax: are search engines leeches?

"Do the engines unfairly appropriate and leverage the copyrighted material on billions of Web sites, then charge for clicks from humans who already know what they want: a merchant site?"

China censorship damaged us, Google founders admit

"The company modified the version of its search engine in China to exclude controversial topics such as the Tiananmen Square massacre or the Falun Gong movement, provoking a backlash in its core western markets.

Asked whether he regretted the decision, Mr Brin admitted yesterday: 'On a business level, that decision to censor... was a net negative.'"

"One of my web sites constantly on the first page on Google"

"Many thanks for great software, I am not web site designer but managed to have one of my web sites constantly on the first page on Google and in the first 3-4 listings on MSN."
Chris Dowgalski, www.rotoruacarrental.com

AxROI is now available in French (and English, German and Dutch)

AxROI (Axandra's Marketing ROI Optimizer) is an advanced ROI and conversion tracking solution that has many advantages over other ROI tracking services.

It shows you which of your online ads and search engine rankings perform well and which ads are just a waste of time and money.

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Many webmasters focus on getting more traffic to their web sites. While getting visitors is very important, it is much more important to increase the conversion rate of your web site:

• Why getting traffic is not the most important thing
• AxROI main page
• Information about AxROI in French

• Google's plans for the next weeks
• Will this famous Google SEO guru quit?
• Does Google read your CSS files?
• Official Google statement: How to deal with duplicate content problems
• Happy Holidays
• All you need to know about search engine optimization in 2006
• Google's Matt Cutts talks about search engine optimization traps
• View all past issues...