danieljean - 1:44 am on Aug 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

EFV gave a description when he started the thread. Most of us know *exactly* what he meant, because we've seen those pages in the SERPs and cursed at the webmasters that so pollute our information space.

Players in an ecosystem that attempt to make money by destroying value for others are called parasites. These sites do not add value, they destroy it and appropriate a sliver. Just like spammers do: use up Gigs of bandwidth, turn people off email, take up life-years of cumulative attention from millions of users- only to make a few hundred dollars.

The visitor is not better off: if the SEO'd page wasn't there, they most likely would still find what they were looking for. (Especially without SERP pollution)

Google may even be losing money in the short-term. If visitors didn't click on adsense-only sites, they would have gone somewhere else, and a good percentage of them would have clicked on an ad. If more advertisers use Adsense because they start getting better results... Google stands to win.

Also, the more lucrative Adsense is for legit publishers, the more they are likely to keep creating useful content, even in marginal niches. How much of the traffic are these keyword-sites taking? Supposing it's 10%, imagine getting a 10% raise. Naturally, Google also benefits. (further to the biological analogy, less money for parasites means more for the symbiotic relationships)

All in all, made for Adsense sites are cannibalizing Google, setting up a vicious feedback loop. They would have to be out of their minds to not try and crack down on it.

So a word to the wise: if you're one those polluters creating junk sites for the sole purpose of showing Adsense -and no, it's not grey, and you know exactly who you are- know that you're up against Google and the money could stop flowing any second. The only way you'll stay in business is if you can add unique value.