Forum Moderators: martinibuster
On the top of each of their pages are Adsense ads.
They are grabbing my content as well as content from MANY other sites. I am assuming that they have some kind of a script that is automatically grabbing snipets directly from Google or some other search engine.
They stick these snipets way down on the bottom of every page in a scrolling window. It's easy to miss that it's even there. At first, i thought it was just pure text, but later i noticed that any of the text can be clicked on as a link.
The webmaster hides the fact that they are even links by making the text black instead of blue. Also, if you move the mouse over the links, it doesn't show the URL down on the bottom of the IE screen. Also, when you do click on the text, it seems as if the link didn't work, but later, you will notice that it opened a new window to the link in another window underneath.
So, their Adsense ads are right there on top of each of their pages, yet they use 4 different methods to make sure that the links to our pages are buried. This brings them lots of visitors using stolen content, yet most never see our site because of the 4 methods they use to bury the links.
1. they put it on the bottom of each page.
2. they stick it in a scrolling window where most of the text is hidden below.
3. they make the text black so it doesn't look like a link.
4. if you do notice it's a link and click on it, it opens the page underneath their page.
Also, the URL to our sites aren't in the links. It's just a bunch of garbled text grabbed from a bunch of various pages, and if you click on any give piece of text, it will open the page it belongs to (underneath).
So, what are your thoughts on this?
Should i have the site remove my content?
What do you think Google Adsense would think about what they are doing?
I know at least one member said he reported a site to AdSense for doing this, and the ads disappeared.
Here are some more in depth threads on the subject:
People using my content to make AdSense money [webmasterworld.com]
AdSense & copyright infringement [webmasterworld.com]
I expect to see a crackdown on these kinds of sites, because not only do they make publishers cranky who see their content, but also because these are the kinds of sites that make advertisers opt-out of content advertising.
Adsense...! you are playing with your feature!
I reported a site also about this issue and nothing changed..
Google prefers to catch problem sites with automated filters, so it's possible that the site you reported is being left in place for quality-control purposes. (That's the way Google search often deals with problem sites, so it's reasonable to assume that AdSense would work in the same way.)
They want the benefit that my text brings them in Google, but they don't want anyone to leave their site.
I'm surprised they didn't go as far as making the text the same color as the background. That's about the only thing they didn't do.
copyright
What about using contextual snippets like Google SERPs do?
these kinds of sites/pages fall under the AdSense policies of site may not include "Excessive, repetitive, or irrelevant keywords in the content or code of web pages".
Hm. I wonder how they use that determiner if they're search results or a directory...
With scraped site, you can easily see the pattern of "widgets" repeated many more times than would appear naturally in the serps. Of course if there is a crackdown, scraper sites will start trying to hide the fact the content is scraped better.
1) AdSense, because they lower the quality of the content network; and...
2) Google search, where "made for AdSense" sites are rivalling affiliate and e-commerce sites as sources of spam and SERP clutter.
The good news for Google is that, if it finds a publisher in violation of its TOS, it can shut down the account and keep the money. Maybe Larry Page and Sergey Brin should challenge the AdSense spammers to "bring it on." :-)
If google does not do anything about this to show that it is not allowed I am going to quickly write a little script and start making one of these sites, as the owners are surely making a killing.
Google needs to deal with scraper sites on two fronts:
1) AdSense, because they lower the quality of the content network; and...2) Google search, where "made for AdSense" sites are rivalling affiliate and e-commerce sites as sources of spam and SERP clutter.
I agree 100% EFV!
Adsense...! you are playing with your feature!
I have heard that this is quite common
"Good" publishers would be happy to have each site reviewed / approved
...and wait six months to be included
;)
Even that won´t do anything, because they can send a "good and clean" site for approval, and once approved , they could do whatever they want...
The only way, would be to review from time to time, each site with AdSense, but that would be terribly expensive.
Even that won´t do anything, because they can send a "good and clean" site for approval, and once approved , they could do whatever they want...
The only way, would be to review from time to time, each site with AdSense, but that would be terribly expensive.
They could easily figure out from which IP/site a click came from and pay only for the clicks that come from sites that have been approved.
Adsense so far seems to be doing nothing to combat these "quality" sites that steal content in a SERP like fashion to display ads (most of the time adsense ads as they pay well and can be made to blend right in with actual page text)
I know of a scraper site (a sophisticated one at that) whose Adsense account G just cancelled due to content (or lack thereof). Of course, the webmaster is in denial arguing to anyone who listens that he has an all-original content. Yeah, right.
So the purge is on ...
[edited by: alika at 10:21 pm (utc) on Aug. 25, 2004]
Throw a couple of million of the IPO proceeds into additional quality control.
Adsense Quality Manager: This is the time to make your case for an increased budget.
<edit>You can also use the blogger site influx as ammunition</edit>
