Forum Moderators: bakedjake
This was a client-related search, so I can't post the search terms... I tried some other searches and couldn't get anything quite as bad, but try (without quotes) "san francisco music shops" and notice how bad things start getting around the 3rd or 4th pages.
Reminds me a little of the auction type sites that piggy-backed on Fast results a month or two ago. I've sent WiseNut two emails, but they really don't have a feedback address, so I don't know whether the right people will see the message.
I'd think it would be hard to spam WiseNut intentionally. Knowing what we know about their link and context based algo. Also, there isn't much evidence that they give much weight to new submissions. I think it was probably a "accidental" drive by spamming meant for another se. hehe
Remember some of the stuff that was getting by at Google about a year, year and a half ago? They didn't command as much traffic, but there were some spammy pages floating near the top, from all sorts of pay per click SEO companies (I was with one at the time).
It'll be interesting to see how they develop in response to this. I always think it's kind of funny, because a lot of SEO's I know have perhaps a bachelors degree, and they can run crazy stuff through most search engines, and it seems most algo's are written, modified, or mainained, ( or all 3) by PHD's. Maybe cracking takes a lower level of formal education than building? hmm...
Maybe this is why these results don't kick in until later in the SERPs, but when they do they can pretty much take over. Jeremy's "really bad" comment tells me he's come up with results similar to what I saw... really really really bad.
On my client-related search, the "spam" took over for a few pages - solid, nothing else there - and then apparently relevant results resumed.
I'm wondering if this tells us anything abt the WiseNut algo. To modify what I said above, about the "spam" having nothing to do with the target terms...
(a) Titles were unrelated... I never saw one of my search words in the title...
(b) Sometimes one of my searched words would be highlighted in the description. Descriptions were usually a laundry list of sought-after terms (like music, shopping, gambling, horoscopes, health, jobs, real estate, etc), probably one of them catching one of the words I'd used in combination with "San Francisco."
On several other "San Francisco" related searches, where the spamming wasn't highly prevalent, I'd still notice an occasional unrelated personals site popping up in the first page or two.
If someone is intent on searching for hard core porn, gambling etc. they would be using some fairly 'recognisable' search phrases.
What in hell are they achieving in spamming an engine with the end result of their pages appearing in completely unrelated, innocuous SERPS?
I suppose I am being extremely naive, but if they want to find visitor that would be interested in their 'wares' then why don't they take a leaf out of the legitmate SEO's book and target visitors who will be searching for what they offer, rather then completely foul up yet another engine!
Time for an asprin!
In regard to this, for those who think badly of Inktomi for going to PTP, or AltaVista for being so hard to get listed, on both engines, 99% of the add url submissions they'd received had been porn spam, and handling this load had been part of what put them both in difficulty.
Yes, it's very sad these guys are messing it up for the rest of us.
If this is a SEO company do this, they have an interesting variety of clients... here and there I've found music sites and antique dealers in addition to the scuzzier stuff.
Anyone have an email address beyond info@wisenut... for notifying these folks?
As of tonight, not much time for them to fix things, problem is still there. It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to clean it up. I asked, incidentally, for a note explaining the problem, if they were willing, or suggested they post here when done.
