Reporting invisible links to Google

Question regarding how to report abusers of Google

[Spongy]

I run a small company and recently and new competitor has popped up to the top of google on a lot of search strings that I am optimising for. At first I thought that it was because over the last few months I haven't updated my site and that this new competitor has caught me sleeping and grabbed the top spot.

However, today when I was doing some research on the site, such as keywork density and phrases, I noticed that at the bottom of the page there are some links that are invisible.

This is obviously against Google guidelines - what should I do? Should I report it to Google, and if so how? I know there is a spam reporting form, but I have never seen a cloaked links report page - anyone know where it is or if there is one? What would Google do? anything? would they actually blacklist the site or drop it down the list?

What does everyting think about reporting this to Google and Yahoo etc. To be honest, I want to report them because its unfair, but i also firmly believe that I could optimise my site better and get back to the top of the list, so removing this unfair advantage...

Any thoughts?

Spongy

[trinorthlighting]

Yes, do a spam report, google will remove them from the index for about 20 days and send them an email warning them. Keep tabs on the site. If it comes back into the index and nothing is fixed, report them again. At that point they will be banned.

[sandyeggo]

It has been my experience that google will do nothing no matter how many reports I send, logged into webmaster account or not. I'm talking mirror sites, auto redirects, mouseover redirects, cloaking - whatever. Maybe others have gotten lucky, but i think the lukiest are the spammers themselves.

[proboscis]

I have reported sites to google dozens of times and nothing happens but I reported the same sites to yahoo and they were gone within days. So maybe you can report them to yahoo...and try msn too.

[arnarn]

You didn't say what the hidden links were linking to.

I'd seriously doubt a few links at the bottom of a page(s) would give them a lot of advantage.

On the other hand, when you indicate you are "optimizing key words".. is this an attempt to influence G? Maybe some of the techniques you used caused the problem?

I've always been more successful by working on content and the organization of content than wasting time reporting someone. If they're doing something "bad" or "black" enough, we can always hope G will deal with it.

[AndyA]

I've never had much luck reporting sites to Google. Whether for hidden text, cloaking, or whatever. After a few weeks of seeing no changes to the site, I stop worrying about it. If Google wants to let their SERPs get all fudged up with garbage, that's their business.

And their stockholders, as well.

[trinorthlighting]

I have reported many sites for hidden text, google bans them. You just have to be persistant and patient. Sometimes it takes up to 7 days to look at the sites and place a penatly or ban.

Report them every two weeks if they are in googles index. Be very specific when you report. Also, report them via webmasters tools!

[SandySEO]

Hello,

Can any one give exact URL where we can file report against such cheaters?

- SandySEO

[Spongy]

wow, thanks for all your replys...

To answer one of the points raised - the site is cloaking links to things like business indexes, where you have to have a recipocal link on the front page of your site to be able to get a good position in their pages, but there also some hidden keywords in the background.

Also, it could be something that I have done to effect my ranking, but I am not using dodgy techniques - just plain old 'organic' seo - refreshing content, getting more links to better pages etc. I gues I'll see if its something i'm doing after Google next indexes me!

Also, one user asked for the URL for reporting this sort of thing, I think i'm right in saying its this one:

[google.com...]

cheers,

Spongy

[soapystar]

It has been my experience that google will do nothing no matter how many reports I send, logged into webmaster account or not. I'm talking mirror sites, auto redirects, mouseover redirects, cloaking - whatever.

and thats the nutshell!

[Quadrille]

Your mileage may vary; Google seems to act immediately on some reports, while others seem to have to wait for the next algo tweak.

Always worth reporting, however, especially if the spammer is damaging your site (and tell Google that!).

Please also report back on the action taken / not taken.

Thanks!

[soapystar]

Google seems to act immediately on some reports, while others seem to have to wait for the next algo tweak.

actually it would seem a rare occurence for a spam report to have any affect at all.

[hutcheson]

>actually it would seem a rare occurence for a spam report to have any affect at all.

I'm sure it depends on the quality of the spam reports.

[Inspired]

I've sent in some very detailed and well laid out spam reports to google on some big traffic websites that were blatantly running doorway pages and using many different cloacking methods... nothing EVER happened.

[Quadrille]

Remember that some spammy methods don't actually help the site concerned; they are in that postion despite the spam, rather than because of it.

Seeing sites with 1998 methods must make Google's spam team laugh, but I doubt they take much effort to punish such futile attempts ;)

[trinorthlighting]

You just have to be persistant. Also, report through your webmaster tools....

What really helps if you find one or two other webmasters who will help you report as well through their webmasters tools.