Google is on the raid again? Targeting purchased video views...wtf...

by Snatch
23 replies
  • SEO
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Hi all, couldn't figure out if this is the right section for that thread but anyway I think is important topic so here it goes...

I heard here on the wf someone says google is starting to target videos with purchased views anyone knows anything about that? What is your opinion?

I have started purchasing views recently and I dont wanna be caught (hope this is the right word )

I mainly use vagex

what do you guys think about that?
#google #purchased #raid #targeting #video #viewswtf #youtube views
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I think it's highly likely that Google would target purchased views, since it artificially inflates the perceived popularity of a video. How they determine that they are purchased is probably a secret known only unto them, so simply, I would not do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hilal Shakarchi
      Well purchasing views is bad, it kinda ruins youtube. You can see bad videos with 50k+ views and you ask yourself "how did this video get 50k+views?"!
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  • Profile picture of the author Miguelito203
    Originally Posted by Snatch View Post

    Hi all, couldn't figure out if this is the right section for that thread but anyway I think is important topic so here it goes...

    I heard here on the wf someone says google is starting to target videos with purchased views anyone knows anything about that? What is your opinion?

    I have started purchasing views recently and I dont wanna be caught (hope this is the right word )

    I mainly use vagex

    what do you guys think about that?
    I heard about this through one of the shows I watch on Youtube. They said that the music corporations were some of the biggest culprits of this. I forget which ones they mentioned, though. The show I watch said its view hadn't changed since it didn't do that stuff and were totally legit.

    Joey
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  • Profile picture of the author Cool Hand Luke
    Originally Posted by Snatch View Post

    what do you guys think about that?
    Dude, let me tell you about this outrageous 3-step strategy I've been using to get around the Youtube slap from buying views and achieve great rankings, large amounts of views, subscribers, and opt-ins to my squeeze page. This is the basic outline to give you an idea of this unique and (dare I say) brilliant strategy to avoid getting penalized:

    1. I have my own high-quality videos produced, which offer massive value to large, hungry, buying markets. (No ripping off other people's vids or producing those terrible powerpoint-voiceover videos everyone and their mom is trying to do.
    2. Put said videos on Youtube.
    3. Don't buy any views, real or fake.

    ...And that's it! Somehow my views, subscriptions and rankings all go up naturally and quickly using this bold new plan. Crazy, huh? Who would have thought that providing viewers with real value and entertainment rather than just putting up crappy videos which you literally have to pay people to watch would be so effective, but there ya go...
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    • Profile picture of the author Joshua Lowenthal
      Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke View Post

      Dude, let me tell you about this outrageous 3-step strategy I've been using to get around the Youtube slap from buying views and achieve great rankings, large amounts of views, subscribers, and opt-ins to my squeeze page. This is the basic outline to give you an idea of this unique and (dare I say) brilliant strategy to avoid getting penalized:

      1. I have my own high-quality videos produced, which offer massive value to large, hungry, buying markets. (No ripping off other people's vids or producing those terrible powerpoint-voiceover videos everyone and their mom is trying to do.
      2. Put said videos on Youtube.
      3. Don't buy any views, real or fake.

      ...And that's it! Somehow my views, subscriptions and rankings all go up naturally and quickly using this bold new plan. Crazy, huh? Who would have thought that providing viewers with real value and entertainment rather than just putting up crappy videos which you literally have to pay people to watch would be so effective, but there ya go...
      This guy. Medal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Hooper-Kelly
      Hi Guys and Gals,

      Having some videos in the #1 slot on YouTube since 2007 has made me very wary of buying views, so I've never done it.

      The good news is, I have videos that have gone straight to the #1 slot within 20 minutes of being uploaded. Naturally these didn't have any views at that point - but they have now ... all good, genuine ones. But it does prove you don't need views to do well.

      So the secret is pretty much like getting your website on the #1 slot on Google: decent content.

      And this means the video itself and the narration (did you know YouTube 'listens' to the narration?). And - above all it means a decent description using the full 5000 character limit.

      And this description - and your narration - needs to have your main keyword about three times and several LSI key words sprinkled at about 100 word intervals.

      And, if you have a compelling, keyword-rich title, so you get views and the video is good enough so folks view it to the end (not the 30 seconds max you get with those bought views) and they like it so much they subscribe to your channel, you're giving YouTube/Google what it always wants: good quality content.

      So you'll be able to sleep soundly at night, whilst your YouTube ATM does the business!

      Warmest regards,

      Paul

      P.S. Cool is the word ...
      Originally posted by Cool Hand Luke
      Somehow my views, subscriptions and rankings all go up naturally and quickly using this bold new plan. Crazy, huh? Who would have thought that providing viewers with real value and entertainment rather than just putting up crappy videos which you literally have to pay people to watch would be so effective, but there ya go...
      Signature
      If you want to stack the copywriting deck in your favor with tricks and hacks producing winners like: "$20K in three days" "650 sold" "30% conversion", then you might like to know I'm retiring and will spill the beans to two people. More info here.
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  • Profile picture of the author BeeJay
    It's pretty clear.

    From the YouTube Partners & Creators Blog, under 'Views and 3rd party services'.

    "What isn’t ok?
    Services that attempt to gain views through automated means or that force or trick viewers into watching videos are not ok. This could be through a variety of means, including, among other things, deceptive layouts on third party websites that trick viewers into playing a video when they click unrelated elements on the page. It might also be serving up embedded videos instead of intended content, serving pop-unders, re-directing and/or a variety of other methods people use to try to inflate viewership.

    At the end of the day, anything that artificially increases the number of views, either through the use of automatic systems or by serving up videos to unsuspecting viewers, is against our terms. Videos and accounts that are found to be in violation of our terms may be closed down and removed from YouTube."

    Ok, so what, it's against their TOS. Is YouTube (read Google) actively bringing down the banhammer on users who breach the terms this way?

    Well, the Huffington Post and Daily Dot have been running articles for the last few weeks about YouTube slashing views to music Video Channels. However, it's subsequently been reported that the labels simply moved their video's from YouTube to Vimeo and that as YouTube now does not recognize counts of deleted video's, this was to blame. The Daily Dot has now been accused of sloppy reporting.

    So do we, the average punters need to live in fear?

    There have been reports of users receiving an email from YouTube indicating that some of their previously active videos have been 'rejected' as YouTube has allegedly detected purchased views.

    I haven't received the email myself but it certainly seems there's a train of logic that makes a stamping down on this sort of practice likely:

    1. Google is at the helm, and
    2. Views are an important part of User Engagement, and
    3. User engagement is a ranking factor, and
    4. Google has a knack for giving methods which 'game' the system a huge enema.

    If you're prepared to risk it, no doubt you could get away with it...for a while. Just don't expect to create or retain any real authority channels built on a foundation of purchased views.

    IMO
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  • Profile picture of the author troy23
    Be prepared to lose not just your video, but your account.

    All you have to do is:
    Upload your video
    Optimize it for the keyword in the title, description
    Choose relevant tags
    Wait for the video to age

    That's it.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Originally Posted by Snatch View Post


    I have started purchasing views recently and I dont wanna be caught (hope this is the right word )
    Whoever told you to do this needs shooting.

    Why would you think you won't get slapped for this?

    Google makes it VERY clear that they don't like people trying to manipulate their results.

    Last year was a HUGE year for people buying links and trying to manipulate page rank.

    Google own Youtube!

    It's OBVIOUS that they will not want you buying views to try and make your videos look more popular than they are - isn't it?

    Don't do it.

    If you do - you only have yourself to blame when your account gets deleted.
    Signature

    nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author saloni
    Don't Buy video views because thats right google is on raid against these act now.

    You just make high quality videos, upload and optimize them with good keywords and provide good quality backlink manually for the video url.
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  • Profile picture of the author Snatch
    ALRIGHT, so dont buy views I get it, all these WSO's about rank with youtube make money with youtube etc... I purchased in the past (With great reviews) seems like I have wasted my money. Yaiks. And what about all the other threads here offering "legit views"?
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    The only thing I see is Vagex (and I do not use it) does not seem to violate the ToS as I read them.

    It is not automated "software"; it is video sharing among participating users.

    They are not "unsuspecting users" who do not know they will be taken to your video.

    Although pay/credits are used to participate in the site (from what I have read) and would seem to violate the principle YouTube is trying to enforce, it doesn't really violate the letter of the ToS.

    And the ToS seem to make sure to mention "unsuspecting" so it seems a key element.

    Vagex could arguably be said to be a "community" that shares videos and links much like Redit. And unlike Twitter, cannot be blasted to non-participants who don't want the "spam".

    Anyway, I may be misinformed about how vagex works, but that's the idea I get from reading their site and posts in this forum.

    Does that make any sense?

    Mahlon
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

      The only thing I see is Vagex (and I do not use it) does not seem to violate the ToS as I read them.

      It is not automated "software"; it is video sharing among participating users.

      They are not "unsuspecting users" who do not know they will be taken to your video.
      I think you're missing the point here (excuse me for saying so).

      But - look at it from Google's perspective. They have made it VERY clear that they don't want people trying to create fake weight for their online real-estate. The whole page rank manipulation issue should make that clear.

      In this case, it's not all about who those people are - it's about why you would use such a tool/strategy.

      You could argue that if you had 10,000 friends and you had them all put a review on your youtube channel that this is perfectly normal - but if that channel was just there to promote a service and none of those people had used that service - it's pretty obvious that their reviews are just you manipulating the system to create fake social proof.

      So - if you pay to have your video viewed by 1000 random people that are part of a network which has the sole purpose of charging its members to view each others videos - that's exactly the sort of thing Google do NOT want you to do.

      They want a video with 100,000 views to have got those views because people wanted to see the content - not because those people had been bribed (however you want to view it) to click on the link purely to increase the view count.

      Don't get hung up with HOW you do it -Google cares more about WHY.
      Signature

      nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Snatch View Post

    I heard here on the wf someone says google is starting to target videos with purchased views anyone knows anything about that? What is your opinion?
    I'm really surprised that they're only going to "start" doing it (i.e. "and don't already do it").

    Originally Posted by Snatch View Post

    I dont wanna be caught
    Don't do it, then. And hope to emerge better off than some of the people who'd already bought mass/automated backlinks before the Penguin update hammered them. :p
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Monroe
    Look, here is the inside scoop.

    Google targeted a certain type of purchased view, as it was costing them money. These said views were using an exploit in AdWords, and like I say, was costing Google money.

    So what did they do? They fixed the exploit then targeted every video that used the exploit to generate views, as they were basically fraud views. The system that targets these views is automated since it left behind a very big footprint - you can however appeal.

    Now that Google has patched the exploit they dont care (well, they do but just not as much since the other methods aren't hitting them in their wallet).

    Also another thing - Google don't really care about people purchasing fake views UNLESS like above it's costing them directly. As long as you dont go stupid and blast your video with hundreds of millions of views, they will turn a blind eye.

    Almost everyone on YouTube is buying views from record labels to 'YouTube personalities'. It's always going to be around, and there is nothing that you can do about it.

    In short, it's not the views you buy that get you banned, it's the method in which the views were generated.
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  • Profile picture of the author MrImperialGold
    I found out a lot of people's videos got banned from buying views on Fiverr. Some guy on Fiverr selling views had a lot of positive reviews, but last week some of his buyers were complaining about their videos getting taken off of Youtube.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    It still amazes me that anyone thinks it's a good idea to buy fake views, reviews, links, or anything like that. Bad idea folks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    I've used Vagex views on tons of videos I've created. Why? Because it helps push a video to the top of the rankings much quicker than if I waited for those views to come in naturally. You can create great videos but it takes time for traction to build and those videos to get enough views and links to rise to the top, if I can fast track that of course I will.

    I have noticed that some of my views seem to have been removed from my videos but my videos are still live and holding their rankings.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by RockingLastsForever View Post

      I have noticed that some of my views seem to have been removed from my videos but my videos are still live and holding their rankings.
      Good for you - just don't come crying to the forum when your account gets deleted.
      Signature

      nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author GGpaul
    I'm glad that Google is targeting purchased views. I don't know, for me personally I look as internet marketing being a "real business". It shouldn't be that one click automated crap. I love putting in the hard work, and in return I get the results. And when I don't get the results, that just means I got to put in more work and be more creative!

    Besides, making unique and valuable content is a lot more fun, rather than copy pasting some kind of text and putting a still image of some random crap and then purchasing a bunch of views to profit.

    That's just me.
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    RIP Dad Oct 14 1954 - Mar 14 2015.

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  • Profile picture of the author accendo
    Dont Hate me, but I used Vagex in the past. However, I am now in the Vagex is fake category for one simple reason. Every comment I asked for from Vagex was IMMEDIATELY flagged by YouTube as Spam. Secondly, I never watched a single video by anyone else.
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  • Profile picture of the author Snatch
    Just 1 guy favoring purchasing views against many that say is a bad idea....to be honest I actually started using vagex. But stopped after hearing that Google may punch me in da face. At the moment I dont think will use it (unless someone convince me that is a good idea to do so). Seems like everyone is against that strategy. I would like to hear more opinions though. Specially for some warriors who sold me some of the wso's endorsing that tactic.
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  • I think it's highly likely that anything 'fake' will be targeted by Google.
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