So if you discovered something.

[drall]

I discovered something in one of my zillions of tests I always have running, something huge. Something so huge in fact that after several additional tests has me shaking today.

I do not think it is a bug, with one change I can outrank any site in Googles index that competes with me. For all you smart arses no it is not adwords. I have never seen anything like this, not since Google was born. Not since all the web or webcrawler or av.

So if you discovered this, what would you do?

[whatson]

And the most impressive and hardest position there is in the whole wide web.

[kidder]

Press Release - "the guy who cracked Google" or similar. You will make a fortune and probably end up working for them in the end.

[buckworks]

C'mon, surely you could think of something both honorable and profitable that you could promote while the loophole lasts?

Don't take aim at weight loss or mortgages, take aim at searches where the users are looking for a real physical product they could purchase.

Make a page about a product that has good affiliate merchants available, apply your secret, and target the page at some commercially useful searches.

Rinse and repeat, for everything from truck accessories to knitting supplies. There can be big money in small commissions if you get enough of them.

The ideal would be to do this for merchants who pay repeat commissions on repeat sales, then you'd have a chance for some residual income after the loophole closes.

[chrisv1963]

if I am right it is just a huge ranking factor miscalc by someone at Google

Sounds like Panda. They have been doing this since February :-)

[netmeg]

I'd #OccupyGoogle - but maybe not till after the holidays.

[travelin cat]

Take advantage of it as long as you can. Put the additional money you earn with it in the bank and do not depend on it continuing for an extended period of time.

It's probably best to consider it a "limited time only" windfall.

[freejung]

Actually, doing an expose might be the best long-term method to exploit this. Think of all the backlinks you'll get from news organizations and SEO forums.

[mhansen]

Before you expose it or bring it to their attention, I would make DARN SURE you could prove it out, beyond any doubt. Replicate it across multiple sites... test with various markets, etc. In other words, I would suck every penny out of you can!

Then, only AFTER its well proven, would I offer Google some guidance... and it would be very similar to the type of guidance they have offered me over the years.

Something like:

- Please sign up at my websites tools section, to learn what might be wrong with your engine.

Then 6 weeks later....

- We have determined that your search engine has a flaw, allowing a serious ranking exploit to occur. Please correct the exploit and resubmit your email for further consideration.

Then 6 weeks later... After they email you back again... reply with:

- I'm sorry I cannot be more specific, but your search engine is still allowing the exploit to occur. Please read your site owner guidelines to make sure it is in compliance, and if you feel it is, resubmit for consideration.

Rinse and repeat for awhile... But Don't be Evil about it.

[brinked]

haha mhansen,

I would take it to the extreme and hire a writer to write up an entire search engine guideline. Guidelines a search engine must adhere to for a user to use it properly. You need to decide on something quick though before google patches this up.

[minnapple]

Ad: How I retired in six weeks gaming Google.
Funny face ad with a link to my Paypal account.
Please . . . . :)

[cabbie]

I wonder why you do those trillion of tests if you don't use the outcome?Unless of course if it is going to hurt someone.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I would not be surprised if a rep from google already saw your post and is looking into it right now.

And that's VERY easy to do. Google needs only to look up the history of this url and, thanks to the +1 button at the bottom of this page, check who's IP was the first to load it (which is usually the author). From there it's a simple matter of seeing what other google service knows about that IP, I assume you have logged into an adsense account recently correct?

In other words - they will already be watching your sites if a)they care to and b) they see any results worth monitoring.

I suspect that they ignore MANY claims they detect online but then again, maybe not.

edit:mhansen, that was priceless :)

[Hissingsid]

Hi Drall,

You are either mad (small m) for posting this here, Mad large M because little voices are telling you stuff that doesn't exist in real life or you're pulling eveyone's plonker.

If it's the later you really should have saved it until the morning of 4/1/2011 it would have been a tremendous wind up.

Cheers

Sid

[Wouter_Blom]

The lazy thing (but most profitable) to do would to contact a BIG SEO company and offer them the trick an negotiate a fixed deal and a % deal on the profit made. Chances are they have much more leverage than you might have in the time the trick works.

It depends a bit on how useful it is of course.

[JackR]

Although I have seen nothing detrimental from the Panda update personally (yet!), the quality of the SERPs in my industry has deteriorated beyond belief.

Example #1: Six-month-old 5-page site with no backlinks on page one!

Example #2: Banner farm with zero original content at #1!


Let's all hope that Panda is merely a transition from normal to revised whilst the algo is being tweaked.

I seriously can't believe we are seeing the results of ten years of search engine algorithmic calculation.

[oddsod]

drall, what you get out of it depends on what you want.

If you want money you'd
1. Exploit the loophole while it lasts and at the same time
2. Keeping in mind the longer term picture where you can capitalise from the fame/infamy of what you did for years after the technique has been busted

If your main goal is to show Google up you'd contrive a situation that would get maximum publicity ... and have the world's press all waiting for this Big Story. I don't know how you'd ensure it was mega embarrassing for Google, but a PR company may be able to advise on that.

If you want charities to benefit, the best way is to exploit the loophole to the hilt under the umbrella of a charity that then distributes the resultant gains.

What do YOU want out of this?

[Nimzovich]

with one change I can outrank any site in Googles index that competes with me

Yeah here's a hint. Don't believe everything you read on the internet about some secret Google backdoor :).

Wheel, you gave the best advice :-)

[wheel]

Well, it could exist - but be very sceptical. There have been plenty of exploits in the past, but they're not generally as easy as it's being made out here.

[angiolo]

have you disabled web history? :)

[indyank]

you are already having lot of fun...enjoy...

[Pass the Dutchie]

depends if its black hat or not.

[Edwin]

It would be funny to rank #1 for "panda" to prove your point!

[Webwork]

What if, instead of you having fun with Google Google is having fun with you?

Matt Cutts: "Let's make everything that drall touches appear to rank #1 . . whenever and wherever he acts, sits, etc.!"

Boo!

[DirigoDev]

The hell with $$$. Take it to the Wall Street Journal and have them write a front page technology piece. Then bask in the fame for a wee bit. Tricks never last. So unless you can make mad cash quickly, go public in a big way. Have fun.

[Hope_Fowl]

> The most hilarious thing you can do is make bing rank #1 in google for google.

But who searches for Google?

... goes to Google Google
... ... Yup, they're ranking pretty good there.

[robzilla]

Has to be a bug if a single on-page change (or error) pushed you to the top -- the Google soup knows too many ingredients for a single one to be so influential.

[JohnRoy]

There are so many little tidbits of info I learned over the last 6 or so years and I would never even think about posting them on any forum.

How did you learn all those tidbits, not from other folks postings?! It's a give & take game.

There have been plenty of exploits in the past, but they're not generally as easy as it's being made out here.

zillion tests ain't easy.

[tonynoriega]

Call Google, tell them your secret and ask for a job.

[nomis5]

Would be lovely to believe the OP. A webmaster's dream come true!

[juliocrd]

pics or it didnt happen