easy way to keep out adsense spammers?

domain approval?

[shortbus1662]

by my calculations, 98.725% of all websites in existence are solely created to spam for adsense.

Okay, obviously this is an exaggeration but it seems like no matter what type of search I do, there they are on the first page.

Couldn't adsense require submitting of domains for approval before allowing the ads or hire 50 people to search all day for adsense spammers?

I know I know, who is to say what is and isn't spam, but Google CAN. They DO reserve the right to refuse to anyone so why can't they? Is it because they are afraid their income will drop drastically and it will hurt their stock?

I'm just curious. It seems like there should be some simple solutions. I don't have a clue what they are currently doing and/or what they are planning on doing, so I'm not really criticising, just looking for opinions and whatnot.

(because honestly, without Adsense, I'd be well, I'd be in deep doo doo)

[digitalv]

Why would Google do this? They're a public company now, they have investors to answer to, and this would be a serious blow to their bottom line. All of the clicks those sites running AdSense generate = revenue billed from AdWords publishers.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Google deliberately bumped sites running AdSense higher in the search results.

[WSQuant]

I think in the long term its in googles best interest to start dropping AS spam sites from the net. If not eventually a competitor (yahoo) will start doing so and advertisers will run to them b/c they'll know they have a better group of publishers showing off their ads.

[Zygoot]

I already said this in another topic but it would require a huge amount of work for Google.

And it's also very easy to play with the system. You just put up a few legit pages, they get approved, and a few hours later you turn the site into a scraper site..

[elguapo]

Similar discussion ... [webmasterworld.com...]

Tighter entry policies cannot deter all spammers and internet low lifers, but it can discourage some. Afterall, gaming the search engines for example continues despite various measures instituted by the SEs. It's a cat-and-mouse game. But having this kind of restriction can help improve the quality of the network and make it easier for G to boot out publishers trying to game the system.

Plus, the current system may allow the publisher to create one quality site for submission to G, and after acceptance put the code to 1000s made-for-adsense spam/scraper sites. If there is a limitation such as a domain approval system, the errant publisher may change the legitimate site approved to a scraper site, but at least will not be able to put the code to non-approved thousands of domains they own. That definitely cuts the garbage out there. Instead of thousands, you now have only 1. This alone can reduce the garbage out there and hopefully improve the quality and image of Adsense

And if G tightens the system even more and occasionally spots check approved publisher site, then we can hope to say goodbye to that errant publisher (and then wait for them to post here crying and wailing that their account was cancelled "for no reason at all")

[elsewhen]

elguapo... i think getting rid of spammy adsense publishers is significantly easier than cleaning up the SERPs. there are on the order of hundreds of thousands of adsense publishers, but on the order of hundreds of MILLIONS of websites.

if google really wanted to, they could get rid of lots of the scraper sites displaying adsense. one likely reason that they havent removed them is because advertisers are not leaving in significant numbers. google has tons of ad inventory to place, and until they sign up a sufficient number of legitimate publishers, the scrapers are helping to fill that need - ouch, it hurts to say that.

i think eventually, google will clean up a bit, but as of right now, it doesnt appear to be their top priority.

[elguapo]

elsewhen ... my point was not really to compare the number of adsense publishers vis-a-vis the number of scum pages on the SERPs. my response was due to the statement by zygoot re that domain approval systems or any other measures designed to tighten publisher acceptance may be of little use given that cheaters will continue to game the system. so i brought up the simple fact that whatever system is put in place, there will always be some lowlifes who'll do everything to game the system. and this is where i made the SEs comparison - that whatever system is in place, there will always be those who will try to beat the system.

[Jenstar]

Even with domain approval, a determined spammer would simply switch out the "quality" with the spam once the initial domain approval was complete. No different that what happens in the serps, it gets indexed as somewhat "quality" then the webmaster goes and redirects the traffic elsewhere once the rankings are there (or else just cloaks it).

[elsewhen]

i am surprised that you are equating the task of ridding adsense of spammers with the task of ridding the SERPs of spammers. there are some key differences:

1) the SERPs cover orders-of-magnitude more territory, so it is much more difficult to root out

2) there are a fininte number of adsense publishers. yes, they can swap out a quality content with spammy content - but if google catches this, they can ban the account. there is only one account per social security number - when caught, that spammer is done with as far as adsense is concerned. sure, the spammer can use a spouse's SSN and sign up for a new account, but this is a very finite endeavor.

if google was committed to it, they could drain the swamp in a matter of months. they could start with the list of negative sites supplied by adwords publishers (ie. if a domain appeared on a disproportionately large number of adwords blacklists). then, google could proceed from there.

cleaning up the SERPs is a very difficult task, and there are tons of PHDs working on it. cleaning up adsense, on the other hand, is achieveable, albeit time-consuming. It isn't particularly difficult to do, it just requires the initiative and the investment.

as i have speculated earlier, i think they dont want get rid of the scraper sites yet, but i would imagine that when lots of adwords publishers start turning off content, google will go after the spammers - i am looking forward to the day.

[elguapo]

i am surprised that you are equating the task of ridding adsense of spammers with the task of ridding the SERPs of spammers. there are some key differences:

To clarify, I am NOT equating the task of cleaning up the serps and cleaning up adsense. those are two different things. I am simply pointing out that (like the SERPs), there will always be people who will game the system whatever measures such as domain approval that G will set up for adsense.

[elsewhen]

I am simply pointing out that (like the SERPs), there will always be people who will game the system whatever measures such as domain approval that G will set up for adsense

sorry for belaboring the point... yes there will always be people that will try to game the system, but that number can be brought to an insignificant number relatively easily within the adsense program. once perpetrators are caught, their SSN is recorded, and they are not allowed to open a new adsense account.

with web pages, google can penalize you in the SERPs, and they can ban your domain, your IP, your host, whatever... but you can always get a new domain on a new server and start the game again. the SERPs are a true cat-and-mouse situation that will likely see no end. at best google can minimize the spammy sites that appear in the SERPs. on the other hand, if it was a corporate goal of theres, google could all but eliminate spammy adsesne sites.

they could start with a notification stating that adsense is not allowed on sites without unique content, or some more accurate definition of scraper sites. spammy publishers would have, say, one month to clean up their act. then a crew of people would manually review sites and start the yanking process. those scraper sites take about 5 seconds to recognize... maybe google could be cool about it and give one warning and a deadline to the account holder. if they continue to keep adsense code on spammy sites, they are removed from the program.

my point is simple... they could do it if they wanted to. cleaning up the SERPs, OTOH, is part of their corporate mission, and i am sure that they have a large amount of resources trying to keep the slime out - it is a very difficult task, an almost impossible task.

[Broadway]

While I don't know how many sites participate in the Adsense I know what a gesture is. When I am doing a web search and land on a made for Adsense site it takes me all of about 5 seconds to realize it. Any Adsense employee could make a fairly thorough evaluation of a web site and its style of content and ethics in a matter of a minute or two. An Adsense program gesture of having at least a single employee providing such an evaluation of sites would go a long way towards making me feel better. Instead, the way things are, the Adsense program is a part of the problem. A co-conspirator with the made for Adsense sites.