The benefits of Search Engine Optimization have been touted far and wide, and rightly so. When SEO is implemented effectively, these benefits can be profound. Increased customer impressions, brand exposure, improved click through rates - the list goes on. Needless to say, search should be an important consideration for the digital strategists of all politicians currently campaigning in the presidential race. However, what happens when such exposure is actively used against you?
The most obvious example at the moment is the much-discussed term "Drumpf" - associated with Republican hopeful Donald Trump - which has become a sensation online to such an extent that the term "Donald Drumpf" now precedes that of "Donald Trump" in a Google search. Though this is not a phrase supported or endorsed by that candidate, it has overtaken his presence on Google through sheer popularity. This development epitomizes the democratic underpinnings of Google's algorithms, reminding us that SEO is based on visitor-generated interest.
Now, consider the impact of phrases and associations actively cultivated or endorsed by people with specific agendas. In a way, "Drumpf" stems from such an agenda - talk show host John Oliver brought the phrase to prominence in an effort to mock Donald Trump, encouraging his viewers to utilize it as well. Oliver's actions in fact mirror those of another host, five years ago - in 2011 Stephen Colbert actively encouraged viewers to click on links that brought up content linking Republican candidate Rick Santorum to inappropriate sexual material. Colbert was not even the instigator of this effort. It was columnist Dan Savage who originally "tie[d] Santorum's name with an...unpleasant sexual definition...and then 'Google bomb[ed]' the Republican until the new term became the top search result for 'Rick Santorum'" (Detrow 2.25.16).
Regardless of the origin of such efforts, it is fascinating to see the ability of one or two people to so drastically affect the search horizons of another. Each of these three (Oliver, Colbert, and Savage) knowingly use or used knowledge of how search engine optimization works to sabotage the search results of politicians - deploying the democratic forces of the internet citizenry against those campaigners they wished to impede. Understanding that Google uses click through rates, choice of search terms, and site visits as indicators of demand (and therefore value) thus becomes a powerful political tool, capable of manipulating the system to achieve political ends. In an already chaotic political arena, such machinations make the game increasingly complex.
Detrow, Scott. "How Do You Solve A Google Problem Like Rick Santorum's?" New Hampshire Public Radio. 25 Feb. 2016. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.
