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How to Ethically Defeat a Cheating Competitor?

by TSDMike
17 replies
I have a client for whom I provide PPC management and general consulting services. This client has done well through purely white-hat on and off-page SEO tactics. Between organic and paid traffic sources, he gets about 25,000 visits to his site monthly. This has been accomplished over the course of the past couple years.

My client has a pretty unique product with exactly one direct competitor. For the past couple of years, this competitor has been lagging in organic rankings and their site is generally inferior to my client's in most respects. But now, this competitor has managed to steal my client's content, and in not so many ways has duplicated my client's efforts in terms of the layout and function of his site.

They are also buying links. According to the Yahoo Site Explorer tool, they have some 12,000 inbound links (way more than my client) that are clearly black-hat tactics - including some that appear to be foreign link farms and others that are from sites containing child porn, among other despicable things.

Also according to the Yahoo tool, they have 10,000+ pages on their site that are indexed... many of which pertaining to similar items as mentioned above.

The problem with all this is that this competitor is now outranking my client's site for many organic keywords.

As an aside, this competitor also has their items for sale in some b&m retailers as well. It has crossed my mind to reach out to these stores to let them know what this company is doing with their site.

I have already notified Google through the Webmaster Tools interface. Is there anything else I can do? I don't mind healthy competition, it makes everyone better. But when it comes to the tactics that these people are employing, especially buying links on sites promoting illegal materials, I can't sit back and do nothing - especially if there is action I can take.

I appreciate any advice.
#cheating #competitor #defeat #ethically
  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    When you say they've copied your client's content, you surely can't mean word-for-word? That'd be a clear breach of copyright and a quick DMCA to their host would result in the site being pulled, most likely. One to Google (or a report submitted via some other means, such as Webmaster Tools) would probably result in the site (or at least the offending pages) being promptly de-indexed, too.

    As far as their "illegal backlinking", Google couldn't very well apply a penalty to their site unless it could prove those behind it were responsible for buying those links. That probably wouldn't happen (nor would such an investigation likely even be pursued) in most cases, but what they'll probably do, upon verifying that the links are from a paid source, is discount or devalue them.

    And if the content on their own site is highly questionable or blatantly illegal anyway, Google will no doubt deindex them for that alone?

    As you've already reported them via Webmaster Tools, I'd say just sit tight for a bit and see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author friendfeed
    Hire a bad worker on Link building for your competitor site..Then they will be defeated easily.
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    • Profile picture of the author yourreviewer
      Originally Posted by friendfeed View Post

      Hire a bad worker on Link building for your competitor site..Then they will be defeated easily.
      This doesn't work. Because if it did, there is nothing preventing anyone from outranking each other by backlinking their competitors from bad neighborhoods.
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      • Profile picture of the author weblink29
        Originally Posted by yourreviewer View Post

        This doesn't work. Because if it did, there is nothing preventing anyone from outranking each other by backlinking their competitors from bad neighborhoods.
        I read a post some time ago where a guy trashed his competitors SERPS by building porn backlinks to his competitors website. Nasty black-hat move but it did work.
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        Nothing to see here folks.....move along.

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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
      How to Ethically Defeat a Cheating Competitor?
      Originally Posted by friendfeed View Post

      Hire a bad worker on Link building for your competitor site..Then they will be defeated easily.
      Is that what you call ethical?
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      Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.

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    • Profile picture of the author CTonline09
      Originally Posted by friendfeed View Post

      Hire a bad worker on Link building for your competitor site..Then they will be defeated easily.
      This is called sabotage and is illegal and unethical.

      This is where most people go wrong when stating that Google will blaclist sites that spam and use software to post links.

      This isnt true as Google are also aware of people that will actively seek to sabotage a competitors site by doing such things not to mention clicking repeatedly on there adsense ads and ad words ads, this doesnt work so dont do it.

      I would simply approach there hosting provider and explain what the site is doing, see if there host will get involved or just sit tight and see if Google devalues there links.

      Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Originally Posted by TSDMike View Post

    I have a client for whom I provide PPC management and general consulting services. This client has done well through purely white-hat on and off-page SEO tactics. Between organic and paid traffic sources, he gets about 25,000 visits to his site monthly. This has been accomplished over the course of the past couple years.

    My client has a pretty unique product with exactly one direct competitor. For the past couple of years, this competitor has been lagging in organic rankings and their site is generally inferior to my client's in most respects. But now, this competitor has managed to steal my client's content, and in not so many ways has duplicated my client's efforts in terms of the layout and function of his site.

    They are also buying links. According to the Yahoo Site Explorer tool, they have some 12,000 inbound links (way more than my client) that are clearly black-hat tactics - including some that appear to be foreign link farms and others that are from sites containing child porn, among other despicable things.

    Also according to the Yahoo tool, they have 10,000+ pages on their site that are indexed... many of which pertaining to similar items as mentioned above.

    The problem with all this is that this competitor is now outranking my client's site for many organic keywords.

    As an aside, this competitor also has their items for sale in some b&m retailers as well. It has crossed my mind to reach out to these stores to let them know what this company is doing with their site.

    I have already notified Google through the Webmaster Tools interface. Is there anything else I can do? I don't mind healthy competition, it makes everyone better. But when it comes to the tactics that these people are employing, especially buying links on sites promoting illegal materials, I can't sit back and do nothing - especially if there is action I can take.

    I appreciate any advice.
    I'm with Michael on this one. If the competitor has stolen the content, word-for-word, in any way, then it's time to contact their webhost. However, is there a way to contact them first? They should at least know that you are onto them. If not, contact their web host as it's a clear violation of copyright laws.

    If that doesn't work there are definitely other ways you can beat them ethically. If you want more information on that you can PM me.

    RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author Marketing Merit
    It may not be entirely black hat techniques from what you have said Mike. Article Marketing using a tool such as AMR can produce thousands of backlinks over a period of time.

    However, if they do have inbound links from child porn sites (totally sick btw) then this should ultimately flag their site long term.

    I do share your frustration as regards the copied content as that has happened to me (and probably all of us at some time). By all means take reasonable steps to preserve your client's content via Google/DMCA but I personally would not contact any of the competitors' vendors. You might open yourself up to some sort of defamation lawsuit.

    My only advice would be to concentrate on improving your client's site as opposed to expending any unnecessary negative energy trying to bring down the competitor.
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  • Profile picture of the author mysteryleaves
    It seem very unfair to me, but
    it looks like that that is how the internet is going
    it might be worth contacting the website with thinfomation you have and see the response
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    • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
      Like others have said, if they are "stealing content" then a DCMA notice will do the trick.

      You reported their site to Google, that's about all you can do and nothing will likely happen because of it. Google typically only manually corrects problems that make them look stupid.

      The ethical thing to do? Take their customers.

      --Do they have affiliates? Go to them and double their commission.
      --They sell to retail stores? Go to them and offer to sell to them for cheaper.
      --Saying something is "black hat" kinda makes it seem like you can't do anything about it. This isn't 1998. You can outrank a site with crappy links very easily.
      --Do you have similar suppliers? Go to them and ask what it takes to sell exclusively to you.

      I'm always collecting information about my competition, even if they aren't "doing" anything to me. You should be doing this stuff anyways.
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      • Profile picture of the author nicoledeal
        Originally Posted by Ryan David View Post

        Like others have said, if they are "stealing content" then a DCMA notice will do the trick.

        You reported their site to Google, that's about all you can do and nothing will likely happen because of it. Google typically only manually corrects problems that make them look stupid.

        The ethical thing to do? Take their customers.

        --Do they have affiliates? Go to them and double their commission.
        --They sell to retail stores? Go to them and offer to sell to them for cheaper.
        --Saying something is "black hat" kinda makes it seem like you can't do anything about it. This isn't 1998. You can outrank a site with crappy links very easily.
        --Do you have similar suppliers? Go to them and ask what it takes to sell exclusively to you.
        I think this is great advice with the exception of the part highlighted in red. This could be a violation of antitrust laws if it occurs in the US.

        I agree with "take their customers"!
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        • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
          Originally Posted by nicoledeal View Post

          I think this is great advice with the exception of the part highlighted in red. This could be a violation of antitrust laws if it occurs in the US.

          I agree with "take their customers"!
          No, that wouldn't be a violation. Exclusive agreements happen all the time. e.g. Iphone only being on AT&T for close to 4 years.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShawnSells
    As others have said, use a DMCA notice and include in the notice a CC to your lawyer.
    Buying backlinks may be a much harder issue to prove.
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  • Profile picture of the author LeeLee
    I just saw this thread. Sounds like a similar problem, solved.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...prised-me.html
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  • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
    Just point him towards a decent SEO business who can manage his organic strategy. Downside for you though is they will probably ask to do the PPC side of things as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Wilhite
    Hi Mike,

    Here's something straight from Google:

    Removing Content From Google

    This tool will guide you through the process of reporting content that you believe warrants removal from Google's services based on applicable laws. Completing this form will help ensure that we have all of the information necessary to investigate your specific inquiry and resolve it as quickly as possible.

    If multiple Google products are affected, please note that you must submit a notice for each affected product.

    Here's the link:

    Google Help

    Best regards,

    Mary
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