Sitemap and Keywords?

[SoleDrag]

I have a competitor that has a site map with keywords all over it. They do link to his site, but it's obvious what he is doing. Is this considered spamming?

[aus_dave]

I've seen this too... the site map has 'pagetitle town1 town2 town3' on all the link text so that searches on the product by location bring this page right to the top.

I'd call it spam :).

[SoleDrag]

For example, his site map is like this:

HOME ¦ PAGE 1 ¦ PAGE 2 ¦ PAGE 3 ¦ WIDGETS ¦ BLUE WIDGETS ¦ GREEN WIDGETS ¦ WHERE TO BUY WIDETS ¦ CHEAP WIDGETS ¦ DISCOUNT WIDGETS ¦ PAGE 4 ¦ CONTACT US ¦ YELLOW WIDGETS ¦

etc.... You get the idea. So Goole picks up the "blue widgets" pretty easy, when if fact it's a bogus link to a catalog page in his site.

Should I turn him in, or follow his lead?

[indigojo]

Definately SPAM, lots of it around. Hopefully next algo will fix this.

[SoleDrag]

OK, one other spam question:

In my gold keyword term, about 6 of the top 10 in Google are the same company. All with different URL's and different pages, but all ultimately link to this one particular competitor. Is that spamming?

No matter what, it's frustrating, that's for sure. He's a hog regardless of if it's right or wrong.

[mfishy]

SoleDrag,

Although it's annoying and frusturating, and probably not great for Google, there is no way Google can prevent this. Many of these sites register with different owners have different content and get differnet links.

Whether it's spam or not depends. I know CNET has a few of the top ten spots on the term Download (one of the biggest terms on the web). They have download.com, zdnet and other sites. It really isn't spam, they just happen to be very popular sites owned by the same company.

[skibum]

If the site map helps people find what they are looking for on the site, then there should be no problem, keyword text links or not.

[SoleDrag]

It's not to help people find what they are looking for, I can tell you that. If you want, I'll sticky you the site for you to judge for yourself.

[pmac]

>blue widgets......bogus link to a catalog page <

Does the page in question have some content that even remotely talks about blue widgets?

A site map that uses descriptive text in it's links isn't spam. It's serving it's users by providing a navigation system that is straight forward and easy to use. The fact that Google likes it is just a bonus.

Instead of reporting the site, why not follow his lead. It will help your users, and MAYBE Google will give you some love. :)

[SoleDrag]

No, all they are is links back to his homepage. Not links to anything specific. (like the keyword link would indicate)

[Marcia]

What if the navigation text links say widgets 1, widgets 2, widgets 3, and they really lead to widgets page 1, widgets page 2 and widgets page 3? Or if a site map does that? Do we think that's kosher, if the pages are really what the links say?

>>MAYBE Google will give you some love.:)

There's a site doing that, the real thing, getting love from Google, Inktomi, Alta Vista, FAST and Teoma. Lotsa love, with hugs and kisses, too. ;)

[WibbleWobble]

Do we think that's kosher, if the pages are really what the links say?

I think so. Its not deceptive, and its giving the user what they want - at least in the instance you provide. If its helpful like that, its hard to see how it can be bad spam.

[vitaplease]

Is this considered spamming?

Look at it this way. Anything that attracts the attention of your competitors because it looks "very misleading", will sooner or later probably lead to someone reporting you to Google. I would hate to be on any "watch list".

[robertito62]

being reported is not the real issue, but how Google understands spamming.

If G does not consider it spamming but useful navigational links, being on someone's hit list is of no consequence.

[jady]

Agreed - if what the keywords are referrring to are related, I do not think its spam. Ive seen many sites that do this, even on the text of their home page. If thats what they want their visitors to see, and it is related, I feel its fine.

But I would like to see the site - can u sticky me the URL?

[onionrep]

Shouldnt a site map be keyword descriptive anyway?

I think it should, within reason, it makes sense for the links to be descriptive of what they are about, why should they say anything else?