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We just employed a new member to our team and he used to work with one of our competitors and whilst we were having a talk he admitted submitting our website and lots of other sites 10 times a day to every search engine. That is why we were getting thrown out of the engines.
He also said he signed us up for multiple ffa lists !!!
Do you think that the search engines should have a members area where they can submit their sites so that others cannot over submit your websites ? Surely the Se's should have something to stop this !
What can we do to our competitors ( In Legal Terms )?
Thanks
Steve
>>signed us up for multiple ffa lists
was that confirmed, in that you received loads of spam emails and did not know where they came from ?
Just a few thoughts from an unbiaised perspective.
[edited by: Staffa at 1:34 pm (utc) on July 26, 2002]
As for FFA's well that's a sod.
Presumably at least they are worried he will now be doing it to them back :-)
If you both did it to each other neither of you would make any headway, how about contact them and arrange a truce ..
It is unlikely that sites were removed from Google because of over submission, as they pay very little attention to submissions these days. You site gets in because they find a link to it.
Also, any link farm and FFA penalty is only likely to affect you if your site links back to the link farm.
This may not always have been the case, but it seems to be now.
[edited by: 4eyes at 1:50 pm (utc) on July 26, 2002]
We do recieve lots of cr*p from ffa things but we just thought they leeched our email addy from the www. we have been trying to contact the ffa company to stop sending us emails.
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Might help if SE submissions had to include an email "at that domain" and a "click action" on receipt of a confirming email.
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Thats a great idea ! GoogleGuy what do you think ? Help a lot of us webmasters out ( ahhh peace of mind )
Im going to call his old company after the weekend ( their working a 4 day week ). Most likely they will deny everything as they told my employee to do this.
What can I do ??????
Thanks
Steve
[edited by: Marcia at 3:11 pm (utc) on July 26, 2002]
Steve
I would write a nice email or formal letter to all SEs and explain the situation. I am sure that the search engines have the ability to capture IP addresses of this competitor and monitor the actions taken by this IP. In fact, I know they can do this for certain. The real question is, will they do it?
Make mention the email and conformation link for submissions as a suggestion. This will benefit all and maybe taken into serious consideration if your sites were dramatically effected by the other company’s unethical actions.
Also, send a copy of the letter to the company. There is no need to call them and here denial of such actions. You have evidence straight from a former employee’s mouth. There is no denying it and will accomplish nothing.
Result from letter:
At least the engines will hopefully check into your sites, and reenlist them if they have been removed as a result of this other company’s actions. This is all you can ask for.
I will email the search engines but I don't think they will take any notice and if they do it will be next year.
If think the direct email and confirmation link is a great idea and will put that idea to the search engines but I think it may take up to much their resources.
I know I was very lucky to find this company out but I know for a fact that there are more out there that are doing this sort of practice and they need stopping.
Steve
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
According to Google, your site cannot be hurt by the actions of competition. You get penalised for FFA and link farms only if you return the link, ie you link to a 'bad neighborhood'
Anyone wanting to read more threads on this issue can search for 'neighborhood' using the 'site search' link at the top of the page, which should throw up some useful history.
Hopefully he did not sign a no compete contract. If so, there may be some stipulations in there about sharing the type of information that they did. Before contacting them, I would make sure that all your ducks are in a row. You may cause problems for your new employee.
If their actions were the cause of your site being dropped from the SE's, then all of us have much to worry about. But, since this type of strategy has no validity, I would look elsewhere as to the cause of your SE problems.
