Is this abuse?

"review" site really owned by competitor

[cherryo]

Just wondering if the following scenario is considered to be a reportable abuse:

Someone bought an expired domain name that had a dmoz and google directory listing. The site is now a "review” site of sorts, giving great reviews to widgets.com while rating the other industry competitors poorly. A little checking on my part showed that the domain is registered to the owner of widgets.com, a site which is also listed in the dmoz and google directory.

Thankfully, I can’t find the new domain’s listing in the dmoz any longer but the google directory listing is still intact and right now, with the newest freshbot rankings, this newly hijacked domain is number one for the industry’s top keywords. Is this considered to be abuse and if so how can I report it?

Thanks for the help.

[cabbie]

Live and let die

[teeceo]

"cherryo" I have a better question for you. How can you make your "own site" better so you don't have to worry(er) snitch your way to the top. By the way, here's a "NEWSFLASH" for all you google snitch's out there, you will "never" and I do mean "eeeeeeevvvvvvver" be able to stop the spammer's, link buyer's, expired domain snatcher, clocker's and the rest of the them becouse of 2 simple things. 1., domain names are only $9 a peice and 2. the fact is, they are just better at ranking on google(by whatever means needed) then you are becouse, if they where not, then you wouldn't be in here 24/7 cring about them, hoping that your cring(and not SEO'ing) will get you to the top. OUT.

Teeceo.

[cabbie]

cherryo that site wont stay long.Dmoz have dropped it and google's directory will too next update.There are many tricks for instant rewards but they are not sustainable.

I suspect you will be wasting your time reporting it as who is to say the site is not legitimate.Google have their algo in place for expired domains so it will fall as a matter of course.
If you are competing with him for the same keyword it means that more work is needed on your site so you are not vulnerable to such tricks (if it is a trick).
Cheers

[rfgdxm1]

Doesn't sound to me like this is abuse as far as Google is concerned. The ODP likely would frown on this, though.

[BlueSky]

For the net, probably not. If they're a business you can report them to their state Attorney General, FTC, and may the BBB for unethical business practices. They probably won't do much if they're a small company, but if it's an open/shut case they may just for the good press of saying see we're protecting the public.

[Rosalind]

Cherryo, there's no way Google, or any search engine can judge the inherent trustworthiness of a site. Even if they are talking up their own products, whether or not they are any good is really just a matter of opinion.

You make a good point, however. People use search engines as one sort of filter, but there's no algorithm for dishonesty.

[patrol]

Today I saw someone who runs an expired Domain in DMOZ, the theme was something religios. Now he use it for cloacking with insurance keywords. It is hard to believe, but the Search-Engine Trickis going on without limit. At the moment I know 4 different Insurance brokers cloacking with DMOZ Listings. After the Guestbook "GoldRush" it is a new trend. Take a look in DMOZ, there you can find nice things:-)