Well, it really wasn't done by google, but by Internet pranksters who tricked Google into doing this . You notice that Mike Moore's site is the second to show up on the list even though his home page does not have the word failure. Right wing pranksters have retaliated, but not enough of them to outnumber those who did this to Bush.
Also type "Worst President" and you will get the same link.
Here's the official Google explaination of how it happened...
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Googlebombing 'failure'
9/16/2005 12:54:00 PM Posted by Marissa Mayer, Director of Consumer Web Products
If you do a Google search on the word [failure] or the phrase [miserable failure], the top result is currently the White House’s official biographical page for President Bush. We've received some complaints recently from users who assume that this reflects a political bias on our part. I'd like to explain how these results come up in order to allay these concerns.
Google's search results are generated by computer programs that rank web pages in large part by examining the number and relative popularity of the sites that link to them. By using a practice called googlebombing, however, determined pranksters can occasionally produce odd results. In this case, a number of webmasters use the phrases [failure] and [miserable failure] to describe and link to President Bush's website, thus pushing it to the top of searches for those phrases. We don't condone the practice of googlebombing, or any other action that seeks to affect the integrity of our search results, but we're also reluctant to alter our results by hand in order to prevent such items from showing up. Pranks like this may be distracting to some, but they don't affect the overall quality of our search service, whose objectivity, as always, remains the core of our mission.
8 comments:
Bwa! Passing it on ...
Oh, those clever Google folks! Right in my own backyard, I'm proud to say, I even know a couple of folks who work there.
Well, it really wasn't done by google, but by Internet pranksters who tricked Google into doing this . You notice that Mike Moore's site is the second to show up on the list even though his home page does not have the word failure. Right wing pranksters have retaliated, but not enough of them to outnumber those who did this to Bush.
Also type "Worst President" and you will get the same link.
Google is a business. They're not going to set up a political joke.
This one is very old, but always worth repeating!
Btw, "miserable failure" works, too.
Btw, "miserable failure" works, too.
Oops, that's what David's link says.
Here's the official Google explaination of how it happened...
------------------------
Googlebombing 'failure'
9/16/2005 12:54:00 PM
Posted by Marissa Mayer, Director of Consumer Web Products
If you do a Google search on the word [failure] or the phrase [miserable failure], the top result is currently the White House’s official biographical page for President Bush. We've received some complaints recently from users who assume that this reflects a political bias on our part. I'd like to explain how these results come up in order to allay these concerns.
Google's search results are generated by computer programs that rank web pages in large part by examining the number and relative popularity of the sites that link to them. By using a practice called googlebombing, however, determined pranksters can occasionally produce odd results. In this case, a number of webmasters use the phrases [failure] and [miserable failure] to describe and link to President Bush's website, thus pushing it to the top of searches for those phrases. We don't condone the practice of googlebombing, or any other action that seeks to affect the integrity of our search results, but we're also reluctant to alter our results by hand in order to prevent such items from showing up. Pranks like this may be distracting to some, but they don't affect the overall quality of our search service, whose objectivity, as always, remains the core of our mission.
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OK Whatever!!
It's still damn funny
ALPF
Thanks ALPF! I did wonder how that happened, but never bothered to look it up.
I find it best not to question these things. IMO, it spoils the magic :)
Thanks, L!
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