Get Paid to make Google better

interesting job posting

[figment88]

[craigslist.org...]

I love the opening line

Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California,

[freeflight2]

obviously they are getting more and more serious with hand reviewing sites

[whoisgregg]

I didn't read it to mean "hand review sites" I read it as "search quality evaluation." Just guessing, but for Google, that probably means checking the overall quality of the SERPs for specific keyword and phrases.

Considering the heavy multi-lingual, multi-cultural text they must want to do reality checks of their non-American English SERPs. The again, the "project basis" and "temporary role" bits indicate they have a more specific need. Interesting stuff, thanks for posting this figment88. :)

[ogletree]

I have a feeling that they are heading the way of Yahoo and doing hand bans. There have been a lot lately. Also Matt Cutts asked me specificly if I had noticed a difference in the last 2 months. He also made a point to let me know he new my sites had been banned.

[figment88]

By the way, I posted this almost three weeks ago. It's been held under mod review. The craigslist link is not going to work much longer.

Here's the first line in case it goes

Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is
recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on
a project basis.

In addition to finding the content interesting, I thought it was funny how Google was identified - it's a good thing they included the part about Mountain View, else I might have thought they were a Yahoo subsidary or something :)

[Robino]

Interesting. This means they're going to be doing this on a large-scale!

I can see it now:
Previous employemnt info:
ODP Editor

[cabbie]

I, for one will be applying.
I have a good chance of scoring some niche I am partial to.

[edit_g]

I can see it now:
Previous employemnt info:
ODP Editor

Let me just say one thing: aaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!

[pendanticist]

Telecommuting is ok.
This is a part-time job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
Reposting this message elsewhere is NOT OK.

Does the link count?

[figment88]

Being as Craigslist makes RSS feeds available, I thinking posting links should to them should be ok.

[whoisgregg]

On craigslist, that group of statements at the bottom are "check off all that apply" type statements -- not written by the poster.

[pendanticist]

Oh, ok.

To me, anything that falls between the <HR> tags IS the message. <shrug>

[webnewton]

Innovative Google ahem!

[WebFusion]

I have a feeling that they are heading the way of Yahoo and doing hand bans

You mean they might actually READ a spam report?

I long for the day when actualy humans will be used to weed out the spam ;-)

[onebaldguy]

In the past, google continually said that they do not like to manually penalize sites. However, that has obviously changed.

Of course they want to make the algo good enough to do it on it's own, but if there is a spammy site at the top of a SERP it would be much easier, cheaper, and quicker to pay someone $35K a year to go through the most highly monetized SERPs and look for spam than it would be to pay 30 PhD's to work on a better algo to get a few select sites out of the SERPs. One person (with the help of thousands of spam reports) could do a lot to help the SERPs.

Plus, regardless of which way they tweak the algo, there is aways someone that is going to be able to figure it out to get an advantage. G can make it harder, which would mean less people are encouraged (or able) to do it. But in the highly monetized SERPs, there are always going to be people manipulating the SERPs to rank well.

It seems ogeltree confirms this is happening and I also spoke with a Google Rep at the conference that confirmed these penalties are taking place.

If Google does give a site a manual penalty, I think they should allow the site owner to find this out as well as a reason. I feel as though Google can penalize all of the sites they wish - it is free speech and this was confirmed legally in the SearchKing case. However, I think manually taking action against sites and keeping it a secret is not a good way to do business.

Also specifying reason would help define their guidelines - which are rediculously vague in the first place. If they penalize a site simply because it is not relevant - that is fine with me (in fact most people would think that it is great - no one wants irelevant results).

However, what about penalizing a site because it buys links? Where is the cut-off between that and advertising?

What if they penalize because you because you own multiple sites? If it is not ok to have multiple sites about a similar topic then what about affiliates? If affilaites are not ok, then what about online stores that sell the same product. What is the difference between an affiliate and an online store selling a pen? The store that sells a Bic pen is selling the exact same product as probably 1,000 other stores.

Some of the questions probably have easy answers, but the point is - we don't know. Google wants to keep this a secret. Keeping the algo a secret is fine. But when they start to subjectively assess a site and take action, then I feel it would be in the best interest of the company to disclose reason for these actions in order to help build trust.

[oldskool79]

Unless Google has a near perfect algorithm (they don't), they need to manually ban sites if they are going to deliver decent SERPS.

To shoot for a fully automated system is a good long term strategy, but in the short term they need to do whatever it takes to ensure good search results.

This includes manual banning of sites.

However, it should be made clear to a webmaster if his site has been penalized. Even if the exact reason is not given, a general "your site has been penalized because a part of it violates our rules" would be sufficient.

A banned site may still have relevant, original content that would be useful to searchers. It would benefit Google, the webmaster, and searches to notify a site it has been banned/penalized so that they can fix the problem and get back in the index.

[ogletree]

All they have to do is mine the data in the spam reports and just give somebody a to do list. They just have to weed out dups and known issues. G has their work cut out for them. They have the public to do their work for them. It is not just high traffic areas either. My sites did not rank for anything big and I got banned. I still think Adsense employees send sites over to search employees. Specially if you start getting fed ex/ups checks. My sites got banned right after my first fed ex check.

[WebFusion]

However, what about penalizing a site because it buys links? Where is the cut-off between that and advertising?

That's an easy fix....just stop the site on which the paid links reside from passing any PR (which would also prevent any one from trying to "target" another site by buying paid links).

However, I think manually taking action against sites and keeping it a secret is not a good way to do business.

I agree. I think there have been many a "newbie" website owner who, after reading some hype-filled course about SEO used techniques that landed them in hot water. Telling them what they did wrong would be a great PR move IMHO.

My sites got banned right after my first fed ex check.

Banned for what (if you don't mind me asking)?

[larryhatch]

I see no reason not to advise the owner of a manually banned site.
There is no need for fine detail, some reasonably specific, broad categories might be:

* Keyword spamming (let the siteowner decide how/where)
* Hidden / obscured text.
* Cloaking abuse.
* Link farm activity / affiliation.
* Irrelevance to topic or search phrases used.
* [ kindly add to this list ... ]
i.e. any and all that apply.

This allows the innocent to fix things instead of stewing in the dark.

- Larry

[gomer]

ogletree, you seem pretty open about mentionning that your sites got banned so I thought I would ask - can you tell us what your sites got banned for and how you learned of the ban.

Thanks.
-gomer

[JudgeJeffries]

Ogletree, do you think that your profile here contributed to the reason for the ban. If I was G I would try to nail a few of the main men as a lesson to the serfs.

[decaff]

Expect Google to take the Yahoo route...hiring more QA people..which basically means more man/womanpower for manual reviews of the more competitive, highly spammed sectors...hey...they are a public company now...they have to take this step...and they can afford to take this step..

[minnapple]

AdSense could be used as an intelligence agency for Google search.
I saw a site wiped out days after they signed up for it.

[Robino]

Well the Adsense quality standards should be tougher than the Google Search standards.

[Teknorat]

Google: Quality Rater (temporary role)
Reply to: [e-mail]
Date: 2004-11-03, 5:42PM PST

Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is
recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on
a project basis. Candidates must be web-savvy and analytical, have excellent
web research skills and a broad range of interests. Specific areas of
expertise are highly desirable.

Participants in web evaluation projects must have a high speed internet
connection. All applicants must be U.S. or Canada based and must have the
corresponding work permit.

Please ensure that your resume mentions your NATIVE language(s), for example,
ENGLISH or JAPANESE or FRENCH, etc. If your native language is English, specify whether you are from the UK, Ireland, South Africa or another English speaking country in your cover letter. Please also outline your interests, special areas of knowledge if applicable, hobbies, travel, affiliations, community involvement, and other facts about yourself.

In particular, we are interested to know if you have lived and studied in
another country and keep in touch with that country's (web) culture and
language. For example, did you grow up in Asia or Europe, moved to the US and
continue to exist in both cultures? We are looking for that unique combination
of life experience and skills. If your higher education spans more than one
country and one culture, please feel free to describe that in detail. Also
specify any other languages you speak fluently.

For immediate consideration, please send a text (ASCII) or HTML version of
your resume to [e-mail]. Important: The subject field of your email must include Quality Rater (temporary role).

Telecommuting is ok.
This is a part-time job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
Reposting this message elsewhere is NOT OK.

Interesting.

[Allergic]

I don't buy it.
Google will never post to Craigslist only and specialy to the Peninsula sector of California only with a American and Canadian Telecommuting job opening!
Come on!

[Teknorat]

From: [google.com...]

Quality Rater

This is a temporary role.

Google, Inc., the search engine company based in Mountain View, California, is recruiting part-time remote workers to help with search quality evaluation on a project basis. Candidates must be web-savvy and analytical, have excellent web research skills and a broad range of interests. Specific areas of expertise are highly desirable.

Participants in web evaluation projects must have a high speed internet connection. All applicants must be U.S. or Canada based and must have the corresponding work permit.

Please ensure that your resume mentions your NATIVE language(s), for example, ENGLISH or JAPANESE or FRENCH, etc. If your native language is English, specify whether you are from the UK, Ireland, South Africa or another English speaking country in your cover letter. Please also outline your interests, special areas of knowledge if applicable, hobbies, travel, affiliations, community involvement, and other facts about yourself.

In particular, we are interested to know if you have lived and studied in another country and keep in touch with that country's (web) culture and language. For example, did you grow up in Asia or Europe, moved to the US and continue to exist in both cultures? We are looking for that unique combination of life experience and skills. If your higher education spans more than one country and one culture, please feel free to describe that in detail. Also specify any other languages you speak fluently.

For immediate consideration, please send a text (ASCII) or HTML version of your resume to [e-mail]. Important: The subject field of your email must include Quality Rater - TEMPORARY.

Guess it's for real.