'Google Bombing' for the right reasons

Google Bombs are always thought of as part of technology humor; something to simply show why George Bush is a 'Miserable Failure' or to do other similar pranks. But it is also one of a very vital part of the SEO strategies for companies. Recently I was searching for a different issue while I got across this particular search result. A search all related to Gmail gives Yahoo as the first result. A little knowledge in Search Engine Optimization will show that Google gives high priority to the following aspects of inbound links when ranking pages: * Number of Inbound links * Inbound Anchor text * Inbound page Quality * Inbound page relevance This is not some sort of a clinching evidence to prove that Yahoo played a dirty game here. It is always probable that there exist so many Yahoo Vs. Gmail id comparisons linking to Yahoo Mail which has caused this 'fudging' in search results. The point of this blog is not that. The point is if this can be a strategy to capture rival userbases. Now, consider this: You are company ABC making widgets. You have a competitor XYZ. People searching for ABC naturally may end up on your website since they already know you and hence searched for you on the web. You can also optimize your webpages for the relevant keywords so that you capture people looking for widgets. But how do you capture the attention of people looking for your competitor XYZ in the search engine. What if this customer did not even know you existed for the same product/service. Google Bombing is a nice way to advertise your product to this group of customers. It is similar to standing outside your competitor's store and handing over leaflets for your own company. The customer may end up in your rival's store eventually, but now he knows you exist and could satisfy his requirement too. It is a nice way to build a potential user base.