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View Full Version : Shoulder Your Way to the Top: Report Spam...



The Lion
03 Jan 2008, 08:40 PM
Why should anybody bust their butt to optimize their website within good content policy guidelines (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769) when the competition is just going to play dirty and get away with it? We've all seen websites with hidden or shrunken text, bogus or redundant loop-back links, doorway pages, stolen copy, and whatnot. These are just a few of the 'black hat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hat)' strategies by which some website owners villainously try to i***ate their search ranks and positioning, a practice known as spamdexing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamdexing). But it never seems to go away. And there's enough of it out there to drive any decent web designer or SEO specialist nuts, especially when there's a bunch of them and their all above you in the search ranks. So where's the justice? And why should anyone toe the line in a world of hacks?

Well, one good reason is the POTENTIAL backlash of content deviance. Stray from the Web-holy path of the Internet-righteous for just a second and you may find your pagerank slapped in half or your website outright banned from choice search engines and their associated repositories. So what the hell, right? I guess you really are 'damned if you do; damned if you don't.'

But what if the real problem is not the offenders at all, or the search establishment in whom we have, in our idleness, entrusted the policing of the Internet? What if the real problem is us, sitting back on our haunches doing squat, and complaining about it?

Unfortunately, an all-too-overlooked means by which you may edge your way to the top of the search rankings is by reporting spamdexing websites (http://www.etherjungle.com/articles_seo_winning_strategies001_01.html) in your particular field or genre. A number of factors help make this strategy a powerful one and well worth your time. Please be advised, however, that most ranking systems (namely Google) are highly democratic, fully invested in the link-and-click voting system that we're all very familiar with. This means that you can't single-handedly do damage to a site that practices spamdexing. Others in your field or genre must also find the offender at fault and get involved. Only about five percent of spam reporting has anything to do with your submitting against a site. The other 95 percent is allying yourself with 'good neigbors' to help finish the job and keep your field or genre worthwhile and valuable to both site owners and visitors. The fallout of this, of course, is that you find some great link partners in the process. But one step at a time, eh?

Please post your feedback with resources for reporting outright spam and spamdexing sites, and join the movement... It's not the search engines' job to police the Internet. It's yours...

Good luck, friends,
The Lion.

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