My Apologies To Google

[Tony_Perry]

GoogleGuy
I recently posted on the subject of spamming and reporting spam to Google. It seems that Google did read my spam report and have removed the offending site. I should have waited longer than I did to complain about the lack of action and for that I apologise. More important, I can now go back to my client and confirm that honest SEO is the way forward and not short term tricky solutions like his competitor! It is good to know that Google DO read the reports and DO take notice.

[jady]

Good! Now I hope that our reports of hidden text (h1 fonts) throughout a competetors webdsite is read and acted on! Encouraging at least..

[chiyo]

I think the general opinion around here is that google does not look at every individual site that is reported, but notes what spam technqiues are being used, and then adjusts their algo as a result, especially if the technqiue is commonly used or a "fix" can be incoporated in the algo which has a cost benefit of time/money for the improvement of their rankings.

Remember they also say I think around 90% of spam reports are spam themselves (i.e. the reported site was not really spamming) So they have to evaluate those too, wasting some time.

Given that, its understandable that given monthly updates and such, that the results may not be observable for a few months or even more, and only if it is causing a significant problem to the rankings as a whole.

[GoogleGuy]

Tony_Perry, glad to hear it worked for you. We do use the spam reports to improve our algorithms, but we also want to be as responsive as we can on complaints. The spam reports we get are actually a pretty high-quality signal (about 90% are good). We've been making better use of the reports for both automatic and human spam checking.

[indigojo]

What about my spam report GG its 100% good and ooh it hurts. :(

[LowLevel]

Tony_Perry,

I'm really happy to ear your spam report worked. :)

After months of reporting spam and abuses, I stopped to report them, just because it didn't work for me (maybe because my spam was related just to regional sites? I'm just guessing...).

I waited the last update, hoping to see the spammers out of Google archives, but it seems that Google spam detection algorithm wasn't upgraded: the spammers are still there. It's a bit frustrating, because the spammers I'm talking about use really many domains heavily interlinked with doorway pages full of competitive keywords in the anchor texts. :( How is it possible that Google algorithms don't notice it?

But your success pushed me to try it again, and I hope that this time Google will do something. :)

[jamesyap]

Tony,

How long did you wait until they remove the site?

[Tony_Perry]

Jamesyap
It has gone! I filled in the spam report on the 20th Dec and goggle acted quickly. I also reported it to inktomi and they too have now acted as well.

[jamesyap]

can you give more details on what kind of spam they are acting on? This way we can be sure to report it next time.

[Tony_Perry]

Jamesyap
It was some kind of cloaking. I dont use such methods and dont know one from another, so cant tell you anymore.

[phish]

Unfortunately, I haven't had that kind of luck. I mentioned GoogleGuy and this forum also. One of my competitors competing for almost all the same keywords, key phrases as mine has 20 different sites in the top 10 in various positions. Every page you click on redirects the user to another search engines results for those keywords. I've sent spam reports thru 3 updates and they've fallen on deaf ears. This is clearly in my eyes littering the searches, and it's blatent spam.

btw..it's almost impossible to optimize your site for the top ten when someone like this is holding 8 of those positions.

[edited by: phish at 4:29 pm (utc) on Jan. 13, 2003]

[jady]

Like I said earlier - I have still had no luck. Maybe it is because our competetor, that is using hidden text to get a #1 rank for our choice search term IS related to what they do - therefore not really throwing Google's relevancy off on that particular search? It is however, very UNFAIR to us whom optimize fairly and properlly! Hopefully they will get the message..

[Tony_Perry]

jady
sorry to hear of your continuing problem with Google. Are you sure that their hidden text is the problem? Google use so many other methouds to rank sites that I doubt it is that alone. You can employ someone to write great and relevant text about you business without having to use hidden text at all.

[Digimon]

I've said here serveral times that spam reports work. Maybe not like an instant messenger but they work. YOu just have to wait.
Jaddy, when did you report?

[jady]

Tony - I really dont have any problem (per say) with Google - just wish they would catch this guy using hidden keyword text all over his site. I am sure they will eventually get to it; I know patience is of essence here as they must receive 1000000 reports each month.

Digi - reported a few months ago, and then again a month ago. Also spoke with another competetor about the problem, which they were aware of and reported as well..

[Dubya_J]

But is Google actually arbitrarily removing your reported sites oris it incoporating the offending techniques into its spam filters.

I've read several threads like this, but several Google published documents, a fair ole couple'o posts from GG himself, and even a all strongly suggested that Google does not pysically and arbitrarily ban sites per se, rather they attempt to develop scalable technological solutions to counteract spam.

Suggesting that your reporting of spam, and the actioning of any removals, may well be dependant on how efficiently Google can incorporate the offedning technique into its spam filters.

Anyone know anything more concrete?

[europeforvisitors]

IMHO, GoogleGuy has made it clear that they do penalize individual sites in some cases, but that they prefer to neutralize spam through filters and algorithms.

[Digimon]

Well Jaddy, sometimes I've had to wait gour months but the penalization has finally come... Just can say that. Be patient

[xy123]

Whats the email address to report a spamming site to google?

[rfgdxm1]

>IMHO, GoogleGuy has made it clear that they do penalize individual sites in some cases, but that they prefer to neutralize spam through filters and algorithms.

Google definitely has hand penalized sites in egregious cases. However, if it can be done through the algo that would obviously be preferable. The problem is that some kinds of spam could never be picked up by an algo. Many doorway pages clogging up a SERP is one that comes to mind.

[phish]

The method I explained earlier in this post they CAN NOT filter..if their counting on the algo to catch them all it's not working..I think the "Big G" needs to step up on the manual hand checking.