Scraper Site Clearout Collateral Damage?

[Ian Cunningham]

It seems like google has purged many scraper sites from the google serps, as per this thread:

[webmasterworld.com...]

I'm sure many people, including myself are very, very pleased about this as it stops scumbag sites from stealing our content.

However, it also appears that some non-scraper sites have been included in this purge (including my own). My site has been active for 5 years and is based on unique content.

Has anyone else been effected by this, and does google intend to refine the algorithm to stop valid, unique content sites from falling victim?

[Seo1]

Goog job Junior

S = Slow (Websites need to ripen)
E = Easy (Everything in moderation)
O = Ongoing (Add 1 page + 1 link per day)
-----------------------------------------------
Front Page 3 major serps + most secondaries

Peace

[JuniorOptimizer]

Thanks Clint, and good luck to any other Zombies who may soon re-awaken from their slumbers.

[Webdetective]

I just got a reply back from Google only about a week after replying back regarding my reinclusion request - very prompt. I made sure my site was cleaned up of violations, including bad links. I hope to be back in soon.

<snip>

[edited by: lawman at 5:52 am (utc) on Aug. 27, 2005]
[edit reason] No Email Excerpts Per TOS #9 [/edit]

[moftary]

What bugs me the most is that with my site banned, all searches for "www.site.com" returns other sites scraping my site and other sites scraping the scrapers and so on!

Weird you, google!:)

[andrea99]

This is the Googleization of all web content, a process that will get worse before it gets better.

[bymer]

so what is the deal if the site is no longer found in Google.com, as of this week, completely vanished, but there are still hits from:

Mediapartners-Google
Googlebot/2.1

as early as this morning?

I realize Mediapartners is Google Ad Sense but Googlebot still hitting a 'de-listed' site?

[JuniorOptimizer]

GoogleBot keeps coming even though you're banned. But the site: command is blank and the ToolBar is at 0 for all pages.

[Webdetective]

I'm wondering if bans are sometimes eventually lifted given enough time without reinclusion request, if the site has been completely cleaned up.

[dataguy]

I'm wondering if bans are sometimes eventually lifted given enough time without reinclusion request, if the site has been completely cleaned up.

I just had a site re-included this past week without doing a re-inclusion request. It was banned for 2 and a half years...

I really suspect that the current issue with site being banned is different than anything we've ever seen before, so who knows.

[sunflower12]

"A win for the good guys: I'm back in today.'

Good for you. I hope it happens to me soon. Today is exactly one month.

[Rx Recruiters]

Just because you get back in doesn't mean you get your traffic back. For the first 28 days of July I got over 10,000 refs a day from Google, got banished on July 28, back in August 23. I only get 20 or 30 refs a day from Google however, and out of the 500 pages I had indexed, only 135 are still in. When I first got reincluded, I had 150 of the original 500 in the index, and I'm losing pages daily.

Does anyone have any ideas why? I must not be getting the deep crawls like I was, although my index page is being updated in the cache daily.

[linkjack]

"Does anyone have any ideas why?"

I think your nickname speaks for itself.

[Rx Recruiters]

What does that mean? My nickname? I am a pharmacist who also does independent pharmacist and nurse recruiting for several major hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacy chains. I also happen to have a several "hobby" websites - three being fan sites for major college football teams, and two being pharmacy job career related sites.

What kind of remark was that? Rx (from the latin for prescription, which implies pharmacy, nursing, doctors, etc.) and Recruiters, which mean a person who recruits, usually medical or IT professionals, to new jobs or careers.

You are right - the name pretty well describes me and is self-explanatory.

So I guess I don't understand your comment? Linkjack - Is being a healthcare recruiter a bad thing? Are you saying that Google singled me out because I am a healthcare recruiter? Why would they do that?

[walkman]

Rx Recruiter,
I think he thought you recruit webmasters for v-_gra and other drug sale stuff.

[g1smd]

Getting on for 20% of the spam email that I get has the letters "Rx" somewhere within, so that term is probably on some "filter" list somewhere in Google's system. I think that is what the poster was alluding to. Don't take it personally, but it was a comment like "if that's the industry you are in, expect problems".

[oddsod]

From the OP:

However, it also appears that some non-scraper sites have been included in this purge (including my own). My site has been active for 5 years and is based on unique content.

A search for site:yoursite.co.uk in Google shows 1,150,000 pages for what I think is your site. You sure you have 1,150,000 pages that would pass a hand edit for unique content?

[paragonman]

Ditto; GOOGLE ditched me too <snip>

my site is still rated no1 for several generic terms like "plumber london" , "handyman london" on YAHOO & MSN, finally after 4 weeks GOOGLE wants me to verify my newly created sitemap.

Problem my server <snip> is serving up valid (200 server reponse page ok) for error pages so because it does not return 404 i canty verify it

so now because of google rules i am forced to change server
or ill soon be out of business, is it worth it i wonder?

[edited by: lawman at 8:33 pm (utc) on Aug. 30, 2005]
[edit reason] No URL Drops Please [/edit]

[linkjack]

what g1smd said

nothing personal. if you're in that industry expect problems

although there are better industries for you to do altruism

[Webdetective]

GOOGLE wants me to verify my newly created sitemap.

Paragonman, does Google want website owners to set up a Google sitemap? I created one myself sitemap.xml with their special software but I'm not sure what to do with it.
Fred

[oddsod]

> or ill soon be out of business, is it worth it i wonder?

Many complaints in here can be resolved if the webmasters concerned took a long, hard look at their own sites. ;)

FWIW, it may also be worth checking with a different browser. Like Firefox.

[andrea99]

I for one am a former friend and defender of Google. I am now an adversary and detractor. I think the internet is now much less useful because of them, though for a while they did improve things.

I look much less kindly upon the beast and will likely find other outlets for my talents in the future.

[WebFusion]

I for one am a former friend and defender of Google. I am now an adversary and detractor. I think the internet is now much less useful because of them, though for a while they did improve things.

I look much less kindly upon the beast and will likely find other outlets for my talents in the future.

It's amazing me how much power some people put in google's hands. Google hasn't made anything "less useful", other than it's own search (actually, we have spammers, cloakers, and link hi-jackers to blame for that, but that's another topic).

I think it prudent to keep in mind that if there was no one trying to make a buck from google's free traffic, this would all be a non-issue (which it is for about 99.99% of the average user that uses google).

[steveb]

"will likely find other outlets for my talents in the future"

You are a Google employee?

[walkman]

>> Paragonman, does Google want website owners to set up a Google sitemap?

if all your pages are currently indexed or linked correctly (via your sitemaps, categories etc) Google doesn't care, BUT if you have too many pages, your categories go several pages deep and have low PR, it's possible that Googlebot might not get to them without the G xml sitemap. Also, with G sitemaps, all pages in my site are indexed within days of being added to the sitemap.

[andrea99]

"will likely find other outlets for my talents in the future"
You are a Google employee?

No. For four years I developed (edited) content which was then indexed by Google and accessed by thousands of people. All of a sudden it is not. I will be doing other things with my time in the future, Google's decision to ban my site without warning was a betrayal that I won't soon forget or forgive.

Google hasn't made anything "less useful", other than it's own search (actually, we have spammers, cloakers, and link hi-jackers to blame for that, but that's another topic).

Google has not intentionally made the internet less useful, no. I'm not sure what the future holds but I suspect we are now witnessing the high-water mark of Google's dominance. You are entitiled to your opinion.

[reseller]

WebFusion

>>Google hasn't made anything "less useful", other than it's own search (actually, we have spammers, cloakers, and link hi-jackers to blame for that, but that's another topic).<<

To be fair, the emerge of AdSense has given a very nice boost to scrapers, spammers etc..

When the folks of AdSense don´t care about which publisher to display AdSense, why blame those who take advantage of an inherited weakness of AdSense program?

[texasville]

I take exception to the remarks made as to google's "free traffic". Let's face it, millions are spent every year by companies in an effort to make their web sites "google friendly". This hardly makes it free. Does google not need to consider that without the ability to lift our sites, titles, urls, description, images, and content, they would have no product.
Search engines and the web and the websites are much like nature. It subsists thru a delicate balance. We all need each other. For now, google is the king of the forest, so far as an individual entity is concerned. But, too many people here refer to all the websites as indivduals. We are also collective. There are some rogue elephants that make things tough for us but they are not the norm.
It is a balance and therefore, I don't feel (and neither should anyone else) that we are making money off of google's "free" traffic. I feel the derision pointed towards individuals because of their frustration with google due to their feeling of unfair treatment does not really have a place here.
Google should be aware of peoples feelings and complaints and the forums provide a healthy place to release that pressure.

[andrea99]

...that we are making money off of google's "free" traffic.

This is an important point to ponder. There were searchers before there was a Google, before there was an internet.

Google owns this space only because it owns a big piece of the public's consciousness and habit. There is a lot of momentum there, a lot of inertia. But this share is not locked in the way Windows is installed or even the way AOL owns membership.

Google is only as good as its last results...

[europeforvisitors]

I take exception to the remarks made as to google's "free traffic". Let's face it, millions are spent every year by companies in an effort to make their web sites "google friendly". This hardly makes it free.

It isn't Google's fault if businesses spend milions of dollars to influence Google's search results (which is what I suspect you really mean by "google friendly"). And from Google's point of view, the referrals that its SERPs generate are certainly free--for the recipients if not for Google.

[reseller]

europeforvisitors

>>It isn't Google's fault if businesses spend milions of dollars to influence Google's search results (which is what I suspect you really mean by "google friendly").<<

I guess he meant by "Google friendly" is to observe Google´s own webmasters guidelines

[google.com...]