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Tag: Google bomb

  • Reddit Ensures Rick Santorum’s Google Rankings Remain

    Reddit Ensures Rick Santorum’s Google Rankings Remain

    By now, you’ve probably heard about Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum and his dealings with Google. The issue had to with a particularly unsavory definition that was applied to the candiate’s last name when an Internet search was conducted, something Josh covered extensively here.

    Now, thanks to some Reddit users who refuse to let Santorum escape without a steady reminder of the alternative definition of his last name, it appears as if Santorum’s “Google problem” won’t be going away anytime soon.

    Remember the Google bombs of old? You know, the nigritude ultramarine contest, John Kerry’s waffles fun, and George Bush’s miserable failure results? Well, some Reddit members are ensuring the alternate definition for “Santorum” applies to queries for the last name by itself and for searches using his first and last name. The strategy, just in case you forgot, was explained perfectly in the Reddit comments:

    A public notice regarding Santorum.

    Not completely sure how it works, but evidently if you link Santorum with the web site http://spreadingsantorum.com/ then that tends to keep Santorum name properly associated with the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.

    Something about Google bots picking up Santorum’s name each time Santorum is mentioned and linked online like that.

    So to review, when you link Santorum with the web site http://spreadingsantorum.com/ then that tends to keep Santorum’s name properly associated with the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.

    Evidently this happens every time Santorum’s name is mentioned and linked online, so please be careful when you do mention Santorum’s name, and especially when you may associate Santorum with the web site http://spreadingsantorum.com/ and then further reference Santorum with the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide this notice about Santorum.

    This comment is followed by a number of troll-like comments that link the “Rick Santorum” name to the SpreadingSantorum.com website, with the goal of having the alternate definition rank highly for both the “Santorum” and the “Rick Santorum” search queries.

    And their efforts seem to be working.

    As of Josh’s writing, the site promoting the alternate definition that has the Senator up in arms — The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex — was ranked third when the term “Rick Santorum” was queried. Today, SpreadingSantorum.com has moved up to the second position.

    So, considering Reddit’s efforts, does this mean it’s still Google’s problem or does Santorum need to hire some SEO experts for his campaign?

  • Rick Santorum Asks Google to Help with his Google Problem

    Senator and current Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum still has a Google problem. When I say “still,” I am referring to the fact that Santorum has had this little problem for going on four years.

    And apparently, he has contacted Google in an attempt to rid himself of the annoyance. That request has been denied.

    First, a little background for those of you who are unfamiliar with Rick Santorum’s Google problem:

    Years ago, Santorum drew the ire of popular blogger Dan Savage by making some unsavory comments regarding the gay community. During an interview where he stated the position that consenting adults have no expectation of privacy, Santorum equated homosexuality to bigamy and incest. He also made some comments relating homosexuality to bestiality, although he has maintained that the were taken out of context.

    Either way, Savage and some other activists were less than pleased. They launched a Google bombing campaign to redefine the definition of the word “Santorum.” Through SEO tactics and link-trading, they were able to push a website called spreadingsantorum.com to the very top of the Google search results for “Rick Santorum.”

    To this day, if you search “Rick Santorum” or just “Santorum,” the first thing that you will see is this definition:

    1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. 2. Senator Rick Santorum.

    For reasons that need be explained to nobody, Rick Santorum isn’t pleased with this. And Politico is reporting that the Senator has contacted Google in an attempt to have the site removed. According to the report, he referred to Google as a purveyor of filth and an irresponsible business –

    “I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they’d get rid of it,” Santorum said. “If you’re a responsible business, you don’t let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country.”

    He continued: “To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can’t handle but I suspect that’s not true.”

    A Google spokesperson has responded, saying that Google “does not remove content from out search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content and violations of out webmaster guidelines.” Basically, no dice, Senator.

    In a recent Funny or Die video, Dan Savage threatens to redefine the word “Rick” if the Senator attacks gay people during his presidential campaign. The clip taps celebrities with a particular interest in keeping the name unscathed. It’s funny, and NSFW –

    Santorum’s Google problem was front and center back in May when The Daily Show decided to bring it up on his birthday.

    Unfortunately for Rick Santorum, his apparent request to Google has really only done one thing: Upped the searches for “Rick Santorum” on Google.

  • Rick Santorum Trending on Google Thanks To Jon Stewart (NSFW)

    Today is Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s birthday. And what could be a better present than being a trending topic on Google? After being mentioned on last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Santorum is, as of this post, 12th on Google Trends.

    Except the popularity is leading people to discover something less than savory regarding the former Senator from Pennsylvania.

    Santorum is the victim of a Google bomb, or briefly, the intentional manipulation of page rankings on Google search. The most famous Google bomb happened back in 2004 when an effort made it so George W. Bush’s bio page was result #1 when users searched the phrase “miserable failure.”

    If you search “Rick Santorum” on Google, the top result just under the news section is not wikipedia, or his official website – it’s a rather interesting fake definition.

    The Google bomb campaign began at the behest of popular blogger Dan Savage back in 2003. Santorum had made some remarks comparing homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, which obviously offended the gay community. They decided to fight back by manipulating the page results to display their preferred description of the then Senator right at the top. It worked, and this is what search results for “Rick Santorum” have looked like for years: (Warning, it’s a little crude)

    Santorum is certainly not the most buzzed about presidential hopeful. But today, he finds himself in the Google Trends mix thanks to Jon Stewart. On last night’s Daily Show, Stewart asked people to Google Santorum, and it looks like they listened. Stewart joked, “he might as well change his name to lemon party.” If you don’t know what that is, don’t Google it – it’s disgusting and highly offensive.

    Now I won’t speculate that Santorum’s “Google problem” will knock him out of the race, but candidates have been bounced for less. Remember Howard Dean’s scream? Yeah, this is totally worse.