Google bombs

As far as I know there's only been one Google bomb at Columbia. Include others here if you know them.

Definition

From Wikipedia: "A Google bomb (also known as a link bomb) is Internet slang for an attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by the Google search engine. Because of the way that Google's algorithm works, a page will be ranked higher if the sites that link to that page use consistent anchor text. A Google bomb is created if a large number of sites link to the page in this manner."

CUCommunity vs. Facebook

In 2004, when Facebook opened up registration by Columbia students, some CUCommunity users led by Cody Hess launched a Google bomb campaign. According to the plan,

• a search for "CUCommunity ripoff" would bring up the Facebook
• a search for "worthless safety school" would produce Harvard's official website
• and "worthless rag newspaper" would bring up the Columbia Spectator, which Hess accused of giving more coverage to the Facebook

At the time, Hess said, "We need more interschool tension in the Ivy League. It's important for people at Columbia to know that they're better than people at other colleges".

Hess called on all Columbia students to publish the links for the Google bomb wherever they could so as to speed up the process.