Google is following YOU when you surf.

Is this old news?

[vonna]

Hi all google experts,

I'm new here but just started to look closer at google,
Here is what i found out ( so far ),

The googlebot is following you when you surf, i now have
prove that the googlebot is not only following links
but are also following "REAL" surfers, nearly real-time,
the googlebot is comming about 3 minutes after the surfer.

I see this all the time ( about every 10 min. ) , a surfer
comes in and the googlebot follow just after, i know that
the googlebot is not following a link, cause i got a search
engine (site1) and the surfer comes from another site
(site2), on site2 the surfer does a search for a keyword
NEWER seen on site1 (the search engine) , just after that
the googlebot comes with the same unique keyword.

What is the source , is it the google toolbar?, i did many
test and it looks like the source is NOT the toolbar,

1. IS THIS OLD NEWS?,
2. What is google using to follow the surfers around?

Please let me know if i should keep "digging",

PS: Sorry about my English i'm from Denmark :-)

best regards Preben Eriksen,

[misja]

Hi,

It should be the Google toolbar with advanced functionality (pagerank) enabled. The privacy statement states that Google is allowed to use that data to improve its own search functionality.

Or can this be another option:
The user searches on Google for keyword and the keyword search on site2 is among the Google search results. User visits site2 and clicks on your link. Maybe later Googlebot spiders recent search results (at least 2 'levels' deep).

Misja

[vonna]

There is no links on site2, it's a searchbox ,textfield
the surfer has to fillout and press submit. (Just
checked and the page is NOT listed on google),
so it has to be the googlebot following the surfer!

best regards Preben Eriksen,

[chiyo]

hi preben, I have heard that if someone clicks on an Adword on a content site, that googlebot visits, ( probably to make sure that the page has not changed and still is relevant to the query.)

Maybe its is that, or if its not Adwords, maybe google is starting to broaden that idea as a way of checking their relevance by focusing on pages that actually get "clicked through" rather than worrying about pages that dont get clicked on much? Seems a reasonable idea to cut down on how much "freshing" they have to do.

[vonna]

Thanks for your reply chiyo,

But site2 has NEVER been advertised on google , and the
page with the searchbox is NOT listed on google, + as i
mention this also happens with keywords NEVER used before
on the search engine (site1) , + The surfer originates
from a searchbox (textfield) where the surfer has to
press submit (the form does a "POST") so there is no links.

best regards Preben Eriksen,

[doc_z]

Hi vonna and welcome.

I don't think that this is caused by the Toolbar. See msg #9 at this thread [webmasterworld.com]

[vonna]

Thanks for your reply Doc_Z

No , i did test the "pattern" with the toolbar,
and it do not trigger the googlebot to follow you,
also tested the alexe toolbar just in case with no
results,

As i mention this happens VERY often on my site,
i see this pattern every 10 minutes , where a search
is done on a site and the googlebot follow just after.
So the software used to TRACK surfers must be widely
used and installed on many computers.

PS: There are NO public logs available anywhere, so
this do happen!.

best regards Preben Eriksen ,

[ruserious]

Can you post the IP and the UA of the bot? There are a few "funny things" with the tools over at labs.google.com. Could be related to that...

[BigDave]

It could also be a competitor (or google) checking to see if you are cloaking.

[markdidj]

That explains why my site was banned when I started using the toolbar. The Highlight feature crashed my browser as I had moving transparent gif menu pics. I was wondering if google would pick this up, looks like they have. Taken the images out and it no longer crashes browser..... but still banned. I cant believe I promote the use of Google and the toolbars, and then my site gets banned.

Well, alls that I can say is the capitalists have got the best chance with Google as they've got the time and money to invest in Google research or SEO pros.....

Unlucky for the craftsman.

I will not be recommending the Toolbar again.

Does anyone know if there are any good search engines that are in no way connected to Google, like dynamic sites, and create a PageRank system by popularity rather than finacial based?

[vonna]

Thanks for your reply's ,

markdidj:
It's NOT caused by the toolbar.

BigDave:
No, thats not possible, please read reply to chiyo, also it is the real googlebot check the following.

ruserious:
Here is the last just a few minutes ago:
64.68.86.194 80 GET /rsearch.asp k=FREE%20WEBSITE%20COUNTER 200 Mediapartners-Google/2.1+(+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html) -

And here is another 'prove', notice that it include
the 'mouse position' from my search button, this also
happened a few minutes ago.

64.68.87.55 80 GET /rsearch.asp lang=na&k=brand%20new%202003%20ebook%20packages%20with%20resell%20rights&I5.x=30&I5.y=10 200 Mediapartners-Google/2.1+(+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html) -

If i get permission from the moderator i will post
the compleate logs, including the log from the surfers
that "trigger" the googlebot. The logs do show the urls
to my sites so i think i need permission to post them
as a new member?.

best regards Preben Eriksen,

[GoogleGuy]

Mediapartners-Google/2.1 is the user agent for content-targeted ads, not for our crawler..

[NFFC]

vonna, take a look at this thread [webmasterworld.com...]

[vonna]

Thanks for your reply,

That explains it, Thanks!

best regards Preben Eriksen.