From GMSV - worth a read...
The New York Times reports some liberal bloggers have embarked on a "Google bombing" campaign designed to lift negative articles about 50 or so Republican candidates to the top of the search results for those candidates' names. The tactic involves widely linking each mention of a candidate's name to a single article, thus raising its profile in Google's page-ranking formula. The effort, headed by MyDD.com contributor Chris Bowers, has been labeled "unscrupulous" and "fascinatingly evil" by conservative bloggers, but Bowers says this is nothing new, noting previous Google-bombs that linked the phrases "flip flopper" with John Kerry and "miserable failure" with George Bush. His bombing, Bowers says, is actually "search engine optimization," an important new addition to the political tool box. "There are three main differences between the campaign I started and other, similar campaigns," wrote Bowers. "First, I did it out in the open with full transparency on my blog, using my name, and with my email in full view. Second, it is much more wide ranging, since it has multiple, simultaneous targets. Third, and most importantly, instead of targeting campaign talking points such as 'flip flopper' or 'miserable failure,' this campaign worked to only use non-partisan media reports. No talking points. No opinion columns. A bare minimum use of alternative media. In other words, this campaign works solely to push news reports made by trusted, mainstream news outlets into the foreground during the final two weeks of the campaign season."