Ready, Set, Googlebomb!
May 10, 2007 by Jaymar Cabebe The “Googlebomb” (or Google-bomb). Heard of it? Well, we’re about to start one…
Actually, we’re about to continue one. Walk with me…
I recently read a blog entry about how Googling the search term Filipina returns some, let’s just say, “not-so-favorable” results. Go ahead and try it. F-I-L-I-P-I-N-A. I’ll give you a minute.
Minute over.
See what I’m sayin’? If you Google Filipina, most of the top results are for mail-order-bride services… or for “online penpal” and date-a-filipina services, which are also, let’s face it… mail-order-bride services. Not cool.
Enter the Googlebomb [gĹŤĹŤ’gÉ™lbom].
The Googlebomb is technology at its finest, my friends. It’s what we call “Search Engine Optimization”. You don’t really need to understand it. Just know that hyperlinks around the web influence the Google PageRank system… so we are going to use them to put a halt to the aforementioned injustice. Awesome.
You see, if everyone links to mail-order-bride pages using the term Filipina, then those will be the top results when you Google Filipina. Or if everyone links to Tom Selleck’s Myspace using the term Filipina, then everyone is stupid, and Tom Selleck’s Myspace will come up when you Google the term Filipina. You get the picture.
Soooo, follow the steps, and we’ll be well on our way to fixing this whole situation. Here goes…
Step 1. Cut a hole in a box.
Step 2. Use the term Filipina on your websites, blogs, myspace pages, forums, etc. to link to websites that AREN’T about purchasing a wife from the Motherland. Seriously, it’s super simple. Check it:
Step 3. Tell your friends to do the same. In fact, link them here and tell them to read this.
Step 4. Pat yourself on the back for perpetuating this socially responsible Googlebomb of epic proportions.
That’s pretty much it. Piece o’ cake. All I’ll ask is that you really try and link to sites that you think would be good representations of the term Filipina. If you need some ideas, here are a few:
Definitions of Filipina:
• Wikipedia
• Merriam-Webster
• American Heritage
Filipina Organizations:
• Babae San Francisco
• Filipina Women’s Network
• Gabriela Network
Articles and Statistics on the Filipina:
• “Philippine Heroines of the Revolution: Maria Clara they were not”
• “Not Just the Maid: Negotiating Filipina Identity in Italy”
• Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence
Filipina Writers:
• Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings
• Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers
• Pinay Power: Peminist Critical Theory
Thanks for taking a minute. Now get to blogging, folks!
And, just for fun… Dumbass.
May 10, 2007 at 11:33 pm | Reply
I realize that some of the Google ads here may actually be links to dating sites. I’ll be honest…
we have no idea how to fix that.
We’re working on it though.
May 11, 2007 at 8:52 am | Reply
This is awesome Jaymar.
May 11, 2007 at 11:05 am | Reply
great idea jaymar!
May 11, 2007 at 3:32 pm | Reply
Palms up.
May 11, 2007 at 3:57 pm | Reply
Very cool idea.
I remember watching Speak Out! on TFC and someone making the point that when you Google the term “Filipina” those are the types of searches you get.
I’ll try to help you guys re-define this stupid sterotype and and ask my friends to do the same!
May 11, 2007 at 4:05 pm | Reply
Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina Filipina.
Sorry… just practicing. GOOGLEBOMBING ON.
May 11, 2007 at 4:20 pm | Reply
Yeah I saw that Speak Out! episode too…filipina redirecting underway…
May 12, 2007 at 12:24 am | Reply
Magnificent!
May 12, 2007 at 3:59 pm | Reply
[…] Brilliant nearly effortless idea from the homies at Touchblue: […]
May 13, 2007 at 2:16 pm | Reply
I’M SO INDESCRIBABLY UPSET.
looking up “filipino people” in wikipedia, i found:
There is also a significant population of Filipinos in Canada.
what’s up with that?
May 13, 2007 at 2:39 pm | Reply
On May 13, 2007 at 2:16 pm, whyxhello said
i’m sorry. why is this upsetting to you?
May 20, 2007 at 9:37 am | Reply
Good job, i think i see a change starting in the search results. Additionally, you should try to see if you can get people to stop selling one another or selling a piece of their soul for citizenship. Maybe this goes further than you thought. Maybe the real problem doesn’t center around search results, but is really a symptom of a bigger problem. Why do Filipinas participate in this? After all, when i search for Latinas, no such results. A porn site or two, which might have something to do with the gender description? If i search for Germans, i dont have a word for girl German ya know? But i digress, i hypothesize that a gorgeous paradise like the Philippines must have some corruption, poverty, and/or human rights issues that need to be addressed if women can be ordered through the mail. That, or maybe there are some enormous mosquitoes. Even so, these issues could be more significant than spamming search results. Either way, i just think its fair to care a little more about the issue that googles webcrawlers have shown you than it is to just mask it with a bunch of irrelevant sites. Covering up the issue, doesn’t fix it. im not saying i have any great solution in mind, but i just caution against a false sense of accomplishment on this issue by making your world look or feel more “appropriate.” I welcome your thoughts and admit upfront that maybe missing something here. Thanks, luke. lukedavidjohnson@gmail.com
May 20, 2007 at 9:58 am | Reply
On May 13, 2007 at 2:39 pm, Rene Gube said
i’ll take a stab at this confusion, WHYXHELLO was upset that the search results came up with mail order brides. As an aside, he/she thought it was interesting that so many Filipinos live in Canada.
and as i discuss in my post below, i hope that she/he is upset that so many sites exist and that people can be and allow themselves to be treated this way. i hope he/she is not one of those silly people who think that Google is trying to be evil. Google has no idea what their search results will be, and its naive bordering on utter stupidity to think that Google is responsible for what is on the net. when you hit search on Google, youre saying “tell me what is most popular on the net for these words” not, “read my mind.”
If WHYXHELLO or anyone else knows a better way to return results which doesn’t involve combing the internet by hand, let me know. i would love to start that company. i really believe that companies like Yahoo! are leading the way in content editing and tailoring the internet to its users. For example, Google news doesnt know about news once the internet does (when its bots crawl across it), but Yahoo! knows the news as soon as it hits and brings it to us and the internet, because it has real people and real relationships with news agencies editing and scouting the real world for news.
again, i have gone on a tangent.
i do agree that those results are not helpful or relevant to us. But clearly they are to some brides and grooms to be, and your battle really starts with them.
May 20, 2007 at 10:12 am | Reply
last post i swear. out of curiosity, i searched Filipina on Yahoo! and it was pretty clean! take a look… i guess having people edit is paying off!
Google has lawsuits about everything from this issue to accusing people of being gay. way to go Yahoo! (for the record, i am no longer a huge fan of either engine, i am an ex-Google fan for tons of reasons)
yahoosearch for Filipina
and ps, i meant Google news “only knows” not “doesnt know” (in my 9:58 AM post)
May 21, 2007 at 1:46 am | Reply
On May 20, 2007 at 9:37 am, LUKE said
Let me thank you, Luke, for opening up some discussion on this topic (and others). I’m honestly glad that you took a minute to read the article, and I really appreciate your input. Constructive dialogue is always valuable.
That said, first off, I think it’s a little pretentious of you to recommend that I “get people to stop selling one another or selling a piece of their soul for citizenship.” It seems as if you’re putting all the blame on the Filipina. Maybe this problem goes further than YOU thought, my friend. You said it yourself, corruption, poverty, and human rights issues in the Philippines need to be addressed. I completely agree. However, I think you’re failing to see that certain practices (the mail-order-bride phenomenon) that you blame on the Filipina, may actually be rooted in the entire socio-political-economic infrastructure of the world as well. But here’s the thing… we don’t have to get into all that…
You know why? Because that is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ISSUE. I think you may have missed the entire purpose of this article. This Googlebomb isn’t an effort to fix the issue of the mail-order-bride phenomenon, nor is it supposed to have any implications on society in the Philippines at all. It has a single purpose, and that is to change the misrepresentation of Filipinas on the the net.
And you want to “caution [me] against a false sense of accomplishment on this issue?” I’m sorry Luke, but not only is this first step a worthwhile accomplishment to ME, but just as well, it is worthwhile to thousands of young Filipinas, for example, who may have to write a report on their heritage for school using Google as a research tool.
And no, I don’t think Google is evil. I understand the technology that drives search results… and there’s no way I can blame their algorithm for any injustice. I’m just trying to make sure that the mail-order-bride sites out there aren’t the ONLY ones offering any content on Filipinas. If that’s the case, then it’s as much our fault as it is theirs. So you see, this isn’t an attempt to “mask [the problem] with irrelevant sites.” In fact, I believe we’re pushing the MORE relevant sites to the forefront. What was it that skewed your perspective so much that you consider these links “irrelevant”? Perhaps you just Googled the word “Filipina”.
Thanks, Jaymar.
May 21, 2007 at 1:52 am | Reply
On May 20, 2007 at 9:58 am, LUKE said
I’m as puzzled as you are about why he/she is upset… but I don’t think his/her issue has anything to do with search engines or Google, or even internet technology. It seems like he/she is just referring to a specific sentence in a specific article on Wikipedia. My two cents.
June 11, 2007 at 3:43 pm | Reply
um, iono if anyone’s tried this, but if you click the “image” section after searching for “filipina”, you get some disturbing images (although others may disagree)
just thought i’d put it out there.
June 12, 2007 at 10:30 am | Reply
Jaymar,
thank you so much for letting us aware of this and thank you for doing something to change it. We may not be able to stop mail order brides but i wouldnt want other people not knowing what a filipina really is and what great jobs we have accomplished once they google about us. Its simply about giving them the right information using this technology.
Thank you!
… i just stumbled upon your website and i love your videos… looking forward to seeing more!
H.
June 13, 2007 at 1:04 pm | Reply
Do you still teach Hip-Hop at the center?
June 14, 2007 at 2:33 pm | Reply
On June 12, 2007 at 10:30 am, Honey said
Thank, Honey. That’s what it’s all about. By the way, Sweet name!…
…
Get it??!?! =)
Jaymar
June 27, 2007 at 5:57 pm | Reply
Awesome idea. *Thumbs up*
I myself am filipina, and there’s no wayyy I like the fact that all this degrading stuff is coming up.
Peace.
August 8, 2007 at 2:49 am | Reply
Thank you soooo much for posting this!
April 28, 2008 at 4:09 am | Reply
[…] Second, they encourage a Google bombing campaign — an attempt to influence the ranking of a given page by linking certain words to a particular site. A Filipino-American production group called Touchblue once suggested a similar campaign to Google bomb the word Filipina and to link it to websites such as the Gabriela Network and Babae San Francisco. However, this Google bombing campaign encourages people to link to just one site — the Filipina Women’s Network (FWN) site — which makes it more effective and more likely to affect the SERP. […]