Forum Moderators: open
You'll find just over 1000 results doing a site search [searchengineworld.com] for google spam as Brett suggested [webmasterworld.com], so I'm sure that we've covered most every angle related to the different methods webmasters are using and whether or not they are appropriate.
Some members think we will be having a "less than fuzzy update" this month, and these updates have away of generating a number of posts related to spam in the SERP's.
So what can you actually do?
If you're certain that a specific page is degrading the quality of the search results:
Don't expect a reply as you might not receive one. Don't get frustrated or aggravated because you're not seeing immediate results.
Google may or may not remove the site(s) that you're reporting and it can take months before you might see a difference in the SERP's.
Google Information for Webmasters
Quality Guidelines [google.com]
"Google prefers developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize hand-to-hand spam fighting. The spam reports we receive are used to create scalable algorithms that recognize and block future spam attempts."
Report a Spam Result [google.com]
"We investigate each report of deceptive practices thoroughly and take appropriate action when abuse is uncovered. At minimum, we will use the data from each spam report to improve our site ranking and filtering algorithms. The result of this should be visible over time as the quality of our searches gets even better. In especially egregious cases, we will remove spammers from our index immediately, so they do not show up in search results at all."
The Google News Forum Charter [webmasterworld.com] was updated awhile back.
Off Topic:
SPAM reporting issues.
"If you have spam to report, please report it to Google. We are not the Google spam reporting system or the place to "shop the competition" knowing that Google techs may read it. Posting someone elses url is no different than violating them by posting their name and address. That includes posting of Google search terms."
Brett had requested that we refrain from Site reviews and/or spam reporting [webmasterworld.com] posts in the past, and the mods might appreciate it if we would do so as well. I'd imagine that an update keeps them quite busy around here.
Hope everyone sees positive results for their efforts this month. :)
Dazz
