“Click Here”—the inadvertent Google bomb

Everyone knows about the “failure” Google bomb, but there’s one that’s even more sinister. In early November I wrote about the creation of hyperlinks and how nonsensical anchor text can do more harm than good. Well, that, and the infamous “failure” Google bomb got me wondering what effects bad hyperlink creation could be having on search results. That’s when I typed “Click Here” into Google. Surprise, surprise. The results page is a collection of all the most popular web browser plugin makers. Why? Because nobody makes a hyperlink that says “Please download Real Player.” Everyone instead writes, “Click here for Real Player.”

Does anyone else have a Google “side-effect” that they’ve found?★