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Google Bombing

Last updated: Feb 07, 2023

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What is Google Bombing?

Google Bombing is a Black Hat SEO technique that works by exploiting the weaknesses of Google's algorithm to place a website at the top of the SERP. This SEO practice also involves building links from several website pages to target pages with the same anchor text.

In some cases, this technique is also applied by over-optimizing an image with certain keywords.

This term was originally put forward by Adam Mathes in 2001. He explained in detail how to recruit a blogger to link to his friend's site with keywords. This is where the term was created, and it continues to exist today.

How Google Bombing Works

Broadly speaking, the practice of using links or link building is carried out massively and seems excessive. Therefore, this SEO technique is included in the Black Hat SEO.

When determining the ranking of a website, Google will be assisted by the PageRank algorithm. This algorithm ranks a website in search results based on the relevance of its incoming links combined with many other factors.

Essentially, this technique is an attempt to manipulate the PageRank algorithm. Many webmasters link anchor text to target pages with certain keywords.

This is done because Google tends to assume that anchor text always reflects the context of a website page. Thus, search engines will give the website a good ranking.

The difference is that, in this case, the keywords linked to are irrelevant to the page they are already ranking for.

The more backlinks a website receives, the more likely it is that it will rank at the top of the SERP. In this case, you need to understand that a good backlink is a link that comes from a site with good credibility.

When creating anchor text in your content, you should do enough optimization by laying out the anchor text far enough apart. In addition, limit the use of anchor text to around 1–3 anchors in each paragraph.

Advantages of Google Bombing

The main advantage of this Black Hat SEO practice is that it raises a website's ranking for specific keywords.

Since the page ranks highly, this makes it easier to get traffic from users. In addition, Google Bomb is also able to maximize the promotion of a brand, product, or service.

Nonetheless, attempts to manipulate these practices are strongly discouraged. Instead, you can focus on White Hat SEO techniques to maximize digital marketing strategies for your website.

Google's Response to Google Bombing Practices

As you already know, Google doesn't like websites that manipulate its algorithm just to get high rankings. As a result, Google provides a series of penalties for sites that use fraudulent practices to get to the top of the SERPs.

In the worst case, sites that get penalized will lose visibility and traffic from Google. This is because Google has an algorithm that is able to identify the manipulative techniques of each website.

If this happens, then the marketing process that has been prepared for your website will be hampered. Because using a black hat technique to get SERP rankings is the same as risking the reputation of the product or service that is being marketed.