david_uk - 7:49 pm on Jul 30, 2005 (gmt 0)

Scraper sites are not about to dissapear - nor is the army of complainers about them. However, there are positive signs in that Google wants people to report them. I don't know what they do with the reports!

It's often said that scrapers convert better for advertisers, but I don't think many people here are convinced. They may well work for some sites in that they might buy traffic from websites (if that counts as conversion). But if they work better for advertisers that have actual products to sell, rather than shunting traffic around the web is a different question altogether.

OK - take the site that is top on a Google search. Assume the site is a highly informative quality site. Can anybody answer why an advertiser selling goods and services to the visitors of the quality #1 site would do BETTER at selling the same goods and services to customers on a scraper that's bought traffic? I think the answer is that they don't.

I know that some people call shunting traffic around the web "conversions" - maybe that's not the best word for it.

Adsense has to be underpinned by customer flexing credit cards and buying goods and services off of advertisers. Just shunting traffic around from scraper to scraper does not generate income to the adsense program. If the scrapers who have nothing to sell take over, then adsense collapses - simple. Therefore whilst they will always exist, Google has to concentrate on real websites and real advertisers - therefore they are trying to marginalise the scrapers.

If the argument that scrapers convert better for advertisers that actually sell products and services that the postman can deliver were to be true, Google would be concentrating on promoting them - not trying to get them out of adsense.