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Tactic: Link 'Good' Words to 'Good' Sources, 'Bad' Words to 'Bad' Sources
By Tom Ball
01/11/05

As many of you may know by now, the manner in which websites link to other websites helps determine how those sites are ranked in various search engines...particularly Google. There is even a term that is used to tie a 'keyword' to a specific site -- 'Google Bombing'.

For an example, go to Google and search the words 'Miserable Failure'.

The site, "Biography of President George W. Bush" pops up in the number one spot. This is not a coincidence. There has been an ongoing campaign throughout the progressive web to make this happen.

Simply put, the more sites that are indexed by Google that link to the above site with the term 'Miserable Failure', the higher up in the search rankings that site (or web page) will appear in the search listings.

Similarly, if you go to Google and type in the term 'Political Strategy' then you will find this site sitting at the top of the search listing. That is because of the many sites that link to our site using the words 'Political Strategy'.

This little tidbit offers us an opportunity to shape what people find when using such search engines. This is particularly true if the thousands of progressive websites work together in this effort.

Tactic: Link 'Good' Words to 'Good' Sources, 'Bad' Words to 'Bad' Sources

In other words, when linking to a web page that contains information that you want others to read and perceive in a positive light, then use positive words when linking to the page.

And, when linking to a web page that contains information that you want others to read and perceive in a negative light, then use words with negative connotations when linking to the page.

The result of these actions, if executed on a sufficiently widespread basis, will be searches resulting in 'bad' webpages gaining the highest search listings when 'bad' words are searched and 'good' webpages gaining the highest search listings when 'good' words are searched.

For example, in this excellent post. I was careful to select words that I wanted linked to the webpage referenced. the page was at NYPost.com and was particularly critical of Michael Moore.

So to take as much spark out of the high profile award as possible, Rupert Murdoch's NY Post sank to new lows with claims of 'Ballot Stuffing' for Moore's F911.
I decided to link the words "Rupert Murdoch's NY Post sank to new lows" so that the search listings would be higher when people did a search for the terms "New low", "Murdoch", and "NY Post". Alternately, I could have simply linked the words "New Lows" and that would likely have been quite effective.

What I didn't want to do was link the words 'Ballot Stuffing' because this would have given the raunchy article (and raunchy publication) a higher search profile on with the words 'ballot stuffing'. Searchers would then be led to a Moore-negative article with the context of ballot stuffing -- something I do NOT want to happen.

As another example, you can see above that I referenced my other post by linking the words excellent post to it. This will give a lift to that post in the search rankings when people search on the words 'excellent post' -- an encouraging context, and one within which you would generally desire to have your writing found.

In summary, this tactic helps us to determine what people find when they search for 'Miserable Failure' (or any other search term.) The question is, will they see the "Biography of George W. Bush" or the "Michael Moore Website" (Currently number 2 and obviously the right's answer to the "Bush - Miserable Failure" campaign) shining boldly in the top spot?

So, if you own a blog or other website, be very selective and strategic in choosing the words that you use to link to other sites. En masse, it is an incredibly powerful tool that helps shape what millions of people find in their quest for truth!