| The Behrend Beacon Ask ASCII: What is a ‘Google Bomb?’ By Logan Stack staff writer Pear AM II Win is it that when I type “miserable failure'' mto the Google box and then hit "I'm Feeling I uck\ that I get the White House site and a biog i.ipln of George W. Bush? M\ stdied I tear \l\ stilled I his is what's ealled a “Google Bomb.” And for people w ho be!ie\e George W. Bush is a warmon ger. this name happens to be oddly appropriate. You get W's biography beeause of the way Google keeps uaek of w hat w eb pages are related to what search lernis. Beeause so many web pages lie about their content to get more hits from search engines. (ioogle ignores what a web page claims to be about and uses a different method for finding out what the site is actually about. And Google’s way has little to do with what's actually on the site. (ioogle works like this: It goes around the w'eb, iollow mg links and looking at who linked to a site and what they said about it. A given site is ranked in the Google search engine based on w'ho linked to it and how many people linked to it. So ifyou’re searching for "Penn State.” most links that say "Penn State” link to “http://www.psu.edu/ "w ww psu.edu. so that's w hat (ioogle returns as its first result (which you get w'hen you click “I’m leulmg lucks.") This has some unforeseen side ef- At some point, someone realized that if he searches for "more evil than Satan himself,” Google w ould list mierosoft.com as the first hit. As it turned out. a lot of people had made links to Microsoft using keywords like "evil" and "Satan,” and that led to Microsoft being the #1 hit for "more evil than Satan himself." Hventually though, news articles pointing this fact out got linked to more frequently, m the search no longer works using evil and Satan, instead "I'm Feeling Lucky” returns the news sto nes reporting on that fact. flic first time someone tried to intentionally change (ioogle's ranking of a page was done as a |okv. Adam Mathes got a bunch of people to link to his friend’s site using the words “Talentless Hack.” and it worked. Unfortunately for Mathes. so many people linked to his web page with the story ex plaining how' it was done that now his site is the it I return on (ioogle for “Talentless Hack.” (now THAT, Alanis Morissette, is ironic.) So it so many people think Bush is a “miserable failure,” how did he get re-elected? Well, if you search tor “great president," you get the same bi ography, so obviously lots of people like him too. There are plenty of interesting Google bombs that still work. “Unelectable" returns the same Bush bi ography. "Weapons of mass destruction" returns a take “cannot be found” error with a bunch of jokes about being unable to find the WMD’s and urging the reader to change their “UN Inspector settings.” “French military victories” returns a page designed to look like Google's “returned no results” page, and suggesting that you search for “French mili tary defeats.” There are also quite a few in other languages. “Weird Haircut” in Dutch will return the biography of the Netherlands’s Prime Minister. Google bombs have a tendency to deactivate themselves. Often, stories talking about the bomb supplant the bomb in Google’s rankings. And fre quently bloggers put the link in their on line jour nals, and when that entry in the Blog gets pushed oft the main page by newer entries, Google doesn't count the link for as much. A link on the main page is worth far more than a link on a page buried deep in a web site, so as time passes the bomb becomes weaker until it basically fizzles no longer arriv ing as the first search result. So, what does it take to make a (ioogle bomb? A bunch of friends with web sites. If enough people make links on their sites to the target site using the same terms, it will change the target sites’s Google ranking. The more obscure the words, the fewer the links needed, as they’ve got less competition from web sites which are actually using those w'ords. Have fun bombing. Better on line that in Iraq. Do von have a computer question? Ask ASCII! Send an e-mail to “mailto: lwsl 18(a.;psu.edu” IwsllS(apsu.edu with "Ask ASCII: " in the subject line to gel your question answered. Test your knowledge Trivia for avid 'South Park'fans DallasNews.com/(KRT) 1. Kenny famously dies in almost every epi sode of "South Park." What officially killed Kenny in 2001 (before his resurrection in the show's eighth season)? A. Stan, Kyle and Cartman set Kenny on fire B. Terminal illness C. Heart failure D. Electrocution 2. How many swear words are spoken in "South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut"? A. 146 B. 221 C. 1,230 D. 399 3. "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone based which two South Park characters on themselves? A. Kenny and Cartman B. Stan and Kyle C. Stan and Cartman D. Kenny and Kyle Friday, November 5, 2004 4. According to Comedy Central's "South Park" Web site, what cataclysmic feud launched the "South Park" craze? A. Jesus vs. Frosty the Snowman B. Good vs. Evil C. The Arquette acting family vs. the Baldwins brothers. D. Satan vs. Saddam Hussein. 5. True or False: South Park is an actual town in Colorado. A. True B. False CORRECT ANSWERS: 1. B. Terminal illness 2. D. 399. As of 2002, the film held the Guinness world record for most profanity in an animated feature film. 3. B. Stan and Kyle 4. A. Jesus vs. Frosty the Snowman. Jesus and Frosty battled it out in a short cartoon that started the series. 5. B. False. South Park is a region in Den ver. Fairplay, the town the show is based on, is located in the South Park region. COMEDY CENTRAL
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers