sublime1 - 12:58 am on Jun 8, 2007 (gmt 0)

So... an honest question for the group. We check our SERPs nightly for a small number of terms, and yes, we do it programatically. We issue perhaps 30 queries a night covering main keywords across several different sites. We do it nicely: wait a few seconds between each hit, request 100 results per page once unless we know most of our terms are one the first page, in which case we request only 10. We have been doing this for several years for several sites; so far we have seen no negative implications.

Needless to say, this is valuable, and more convenient than doing in manually, which I would probably do, for example by setting up a set of firefox tabs to open in a single click. I don't believe doing the same thing manually would violate terms of use.

We're also trying to cover our tracks a little. Our software sets a single user agent that matches a browser's signature. We also randomize the hits. Both of these are done in a feeble attempt to look human, since of course they all come from the same IP address.

So this is clearly in violation of Google's terms of service, and I recognize this.

My question is whether this is more like going 50MPH in a 45MPH zone, which most cops would not care about (and yes, I would hit the brakes if I saw the cop in a blatant attempt to disguise my crime). Or if anyone actually noticed, would it potentially be a thing we could get dinged for? Maybe a nice note to our webmaster account?

Any opinions as to whether this is going to bite us in the butt, or whether gentle use such as ours would be overlooked if it were even noticed.

Thx.