The Google bomb is back, and Stephen Colbert is, figuratively speaking, riding atop it, cowboy hat in hand. That’s right – according to the top Google search results, Colbert is the “greatest living American,” and, as it so happens, also possesses some “giant brass balls.”
Colbert Sets Off Googlebomb
A large portion of the SEO community had a hand in shaping these results (which lead to ColbertNation.com). As Search Engine Watch’s Greg Jarboe reported, “It all started at Search Engine Strategies last week, when Jonah Stein of The Alchemy of Search attended a taping of The Colbert Report . . .”
Colbert apparently suggested associating his name with the “giant brass balls” search term; the comedian’s diehard fans seem to have made him the “greatest living American” without any prompting. And – if we assume that everyone who covered the story is a fan – that fan base includes such SEO notables as Rand Fishkin, Andy Beal, and Todd Malicoat, among others.
Still, we may be looking at the tail end of this rush of Colbert-related hoopla; Jarboe concluded his article by “[hoping] that this little blogstorm has run its course.” Other onlookers, such as CNET’s Caroline McCarthy, feel that Google itself may intervene.
“Google might have to invent a new ‘algorithm’ specifically for Colbert,” she wrote. And yet, in reference to the man who now has his own flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, McCarthy adds, “Unfortunately, that’d probably just inflate his ego even more.”
Come now. The man’s the “greatest living American“; he’s allowed to be a bit prideful.
