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Is Google is LOSING the battle against spam in search results?

by RickDuris
10 replies
It's rare I post on this part of the forum. But I feel this article is significant:

How you and Google are losing the battle against spam in search results

It ran today in the Washington Post.

There are a several insights which are relevant to Internet Marketers. This is one of those articles you want to print out and then highlight important parts.

- Rick Duris

PS: Somebody (collectively) is out there creating a million spam blogs--an hour.
#battle #google #losing #results #search #spam
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
    It sounds like its op-ed more than anything else. This is a significant sentence in the first paragraph:

    (Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald Graham is on Facebook's board of directors.)

    with a live anchor text embedded link to a related story on the same website.

    Its not that facebook doesn't get a lot of visitors, they do, and everytime somebody writes that in a "news article" a lot more people are searching on FB for information, FB gets another chance to display targeted ads. With another opportunity for FB to make money.

    I think that if there is something FB does really well, it is marketing. And since I do think we live in a marketing world, I think this is a great example of that. Cool.

    I think a great lesson for marketers here is the value of someone from one site with a reputation, writing about your site in an article. Even if there is not a live link to your site, getting mentioned (especially if your site has an easy to remember name) is a great marketing opportunity.

    Nice thread, thank you for sharing it.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Another thing that stuck out to me was the quote about certain categories becoming largely spam - like product reviews and medical information, among others.

      Sound familiar to anyone?

      As for splogs, Wired had an article about the proliferation of spam blogs a couple of years ago. At the time, one of the characteristics used to define a splog was the use of a .info domain name. There's anecdotal evidence that this stance may have eased some, but I have a hunch there's another massive slap coming, much like the one MFA builders had a few years ago.

      Google will likely over-correct and then move back to the middle again, but in the process there will probably be some "civilian casualties"...
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Rick,

      Automated distribution of unsolicited marketing messages in a no/super-low cost environment will - always - destroy that marketplace if left unchecked. And it always has a significant negative impact on the usefulness of the medium for the recipients.

      This is the thing that most backlinkers and article spinners and Facebook spammers and all the rest don't want to acknowledge. They're parasites, living off the damage done to legitimate users of the network.

      The only honest defense they can offer is: "It works."

      So does phishing and identity theft. I wouldn't be all that surprised to see some of the "SEO" types get into those fields if search engines figure out ways to make this stuff ineffective.


      Paul
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      Stop by Paul's Pub - my little hangout on Facebook.

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      • Profile picture of the author bravo75
        Yep, that pretty much sums up the state of the internet today.

        Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

        Rick,



        This is the thing that most backlinkers and article spinners and Facebook spammers and all the rest don't want to acknowledge. They're parasites, living off the damage done to legitimate users of the network.

        The only honest defense they can offer is: "It works."




        Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author ExRat
        Hi,

        I know the article is about the state of the SERPs, but did you guys across the pond get the same type of ad as me (and splog-like landing page behind the ad) at the top of the Washington Post page? (It's a rotating ad).

        The one I saw has got an animated graphic of a lady who's stomach gets bigger and smaller entitled '1 rule of a flat stomach'.

        The landing page ls '**** berry diet exposed,' the page looks like a magazine/newspaper themed (Channel 5 health news) blog (with comments) but isn't really a blog and it has an ad which leads to an colon cleanse trial/address submit page.

        On there is a trial offer, which avoids the word 'free', but it's cleverly designed/written in such a way that I imagine most people would assume that it is going to be free. The only place where the price is revealed is via a small T&C link.

        Interestingly, on this T&C page the £2.95 3 day trial is priced in GBP, yet further along in the same paragraph the ensuing monthly cost of $99.95 is priced in USD.

        I didn't bother to look for more stuff, but the short version is that the Washington post page with the article about SERPs 'spam' has a nice big ad heading the article which leads to a splog type landing page which leads to a dodgy CPA ad.
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        Roger Davis
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        • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
          Originally Posted by ExRat View Post

          Hi,

          I know the article is about the state of the SERPs, but did you guys across the pond get the same type of ad as me (and splog-like landing page behind the ad) at the top of the Washington Post page?

          It's got an animated graphic of a lady who's stomach gets bigger and smaller entitled '1 rule of a flat stomach'.

          The landing page ls '**** berry diet exposed,' the page looks like a magazine/newspaper themed (Channel 5 health news) blog (with comments) but isn't really a blog and it has an ad which leads to an **** trial/address submit page.

          On there is a trial offer, which avoids the word 'free', but it's cleverly designed/written in such a way that I imagine most people would assume that it is going to be free. The only place where the price is revealed is via a small T&C link.

          Interestingly, on this T&C page the £2.95 3 day trial is priced in GBP, yet further along in the same paragraph the ensuing monthly cost of $99.95 is priced in USD.

          I didn't bother to look for more stuff, but the short version is that the Washington post page with the article about SERPs 'spam' has a nice big ad heading the article which leads to a splog type landing page which leads to a dodgy CPA ad.
          With 20 Billion examples of this each day, it's really hard not to get cynical.

          TomG.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Thats why one of these days, someone will TRY to close the joint. But the article seems more of a rant then a informative journalistic piece.

    Really expected MORE then just a rant.
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    People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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  • Profile picture of the author melldren
    Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

    Manipulating Google's search algorithm is no more difficult that using shills to manipulate crowds on Facebook and Twitter. Call it reputation management, public relations, or whatever euphemism you choose. Marketers are already pimping Facebook.
    I agree with you.
    Any algorithm or system can be manipulated.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
    Banned
    File the Post's "story" under "Beat up" - nothing new there. Probably written by a junior journo.

    And it's not what's at the top of Google SERPS - it's how you use it. If you have half a clue on how to use Search properly you'll know to discount a lot of the stuff that's thrown up.

    Possibly people need to be educated on what to enter in Search to get the best results. I suggest you Google "How to use Google Search".;-)
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