Forum Moderators: open
The front page is very clean with large central picture and very little text.
However there is a long text in the code hidden within DIV block:
<DIV style="Z-INDEX: 500; TOP: -130px; LEFT: -231px; VISIBILITY: visible; WIDTH: 200px; POSITION: absolute;">
So you cannot find it using select all function because it is always outside of the browser window.
Obviously, Google takes it for real because part of the hidden text appears in the Google description.
Prrety neat, eh? Is it worth submitting to the spam report?
div#hiddentext {
display: none;
]
Not that I'd recommend anyone do it ;)
Nick
If that is right, then the spammer's success is going to depend on how many competitors he has, how smart they are and whether they are willing to report him.
Obviously these are good enough odds for lots of folks....
Google must have worked hard trying to figure out how to trap these problems with a filter and come up short. I think this is why Googleguy has actively been posting and promoting the spam report link. It will be interesting to see what the response time is on spam reported to this link. Anybody had any experience with this yet?
It's worth remembering that a lot of spamming techniques don't actually work very well for Google - the page may have it's good position because of good links and good anchor text.
Same with 1 pixel gifs, this is why it is so tough to try to automate spam detection....
> It's worth remembering that a lot of spamming techniques don't actually work very well for Google
I think you are right as far as the actual optimization process of a page. There is a vulnerability in the page rank model, though. Let's say you are a web designer/seo with 50 clients - link the home pages of each of your sites to 10 others with a 1 pixel gif. The home page prs might range from 4 to 7 and there won't be any other outbound links on these pages, so the pr effect to the recipient pages will be good. I found and reported one of these, but the only way to get caught is if a competitor studies your inbound links then visits the linking pages and searches the source - kind of an involved process...
There are many of us here who dont whine about someone getting higher listings because we know how to beat fellow spammers at their own game. In most cases it is not even necessary to out spam them all you have to do is build a better site. Get someone to link to you who has higher PR and make your page for the search engine in question. One day when you are all learned up on SEO stuff you will be able to take all of this in and do your jobs better.
If someone doesn't put something funny here soon I will report it.
Of course I'm just a webmaster who is upset that this thread is listed above mine in the Google News Forum
That belief is based on faulty assumptions, IMO. There are no set rules, really. There's just different interests from different parties.
Powdork, something funny? Ok, I'm just waiting for the day when search engines regard spam reports as spamming their mail boxes... ;)
Another point to bring up, as GG has said many times, all Google cares about is User Experience. If the "spam" site for example, spam's "Pam Anderson", through the use of hidden links, hidden text, and 1x1 gif's. Yet the site has extreamly good info on Pam -- photos, filmography, messageboard, memoriablia, etc. Then why should G give this site a PR0 and a site with less info, along with less spam techniques an artifical boost? I say let them fight it out, spam techniques, linking crusades, information building, etc.
Seems fair to me.
The perception is that Google is rewarding sites even though they use "don'ts". Not everyone agrees with "if you can't beat em, join 'em", and if Google's traps and filters don't seem to be catching these "cheating" sites, then people will continue to report them as spam.
Although I must say that I'm surprised a beast as sophisticated as Google seems to battle in picking up hidden text. It has been on the SE's no-no lists since Noah had training wheels.
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Webmaster Dos and Don'ts
Do:
Create a site with content and design that are straightforward, appropriate and relevant for visitors to your site.
Feel free to exchange links with other sites that are compatible with your site's content and users' interests.
Be very careful about allowing an individual consultant or company to 'optimize' your web site. Chances are they will engage in some of our "Don'ts" and end up hurting your site.
Consider submitting your sites to our partner directories Yahoo! and DMOZ.
Don't:
Cloak.
Write text or create links that can be seen by search engines but not by visitors to your site.
Participate in link exchanges for the sole purpose of increasing your ranking in search engines.
Send automated queries to Google in an attempt to monitor your site's ranking.
Use programs that generate lots of generic doorway pages.
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Not exactly ambiguous, is it?
In this case:
if (LEFT =~ '-' ¦¦ TOP =~ '-')
{
Ban this stupid site!
}
