Doubtful idea.

[KimmoA]

I'm not sure that I should ask you this, but I need to know a thing or two about it.

OK. Let's say I write a spider to harvest tons of data on the Web. Then, I'd process these pages and change all links to go to my own site(s). Then, I'd wrap these in tons of banners. Then I'd make them link to each other. Then I'd let Google loose on it.

This site would undoubtably get a lot of hits, wouldn't it? I'm not sure if I'm being a total idiot for "givin this away", but considering how simple this would be, I assume that it has been done before. In fact, I even think it has its own name.

What do you think? I'm not saying that I'm gonna do this, but I want to hear what you have to say about the matter.

[Lex_Luther]

Is'nt this the same as that gueralli marketing guys were doing? You know, the car wax guys

[KimmoA]

"Is'nt this the same as that gueralli marketing guys were doing? You know, the car wax guys"

I don't know what you're refering to.

[KimmoA]

Come on! For being the biggest forum of its kind, the feedback around here sure feels pretty crappy...

[jomaxx]

What do you want to hear? That it's a great idea? It's not, it's a harmful and parasitic idea.

What you're talking about is either a vast theft of copyrighted information or the creation of the kind of "scraper site" that Google has been working very hard to expunge from its SERPs. I don't know why you think the site would undoubtedly get a lot of hits.

[KimmoA]

"I don't know why you think the site would undoubtedly get a lot of hits."

Because it contains so much different information?

How exactly would Google detect this?

[jecasc]

Of course it has done before.

And yes it has its own name: Copyright Infringement

And the last guy who did this to my content had to pay my laywer, his laywer and compensation for the content theft.

100 EUR/page * 20 pages * 3 month = 6000 EUR

+ 900 EUR for the laywer

What his laywer costs where I do not know.

And since copyright infringement is a criminal offence I reported him to the public prosecutor's office.

[KimmoA]

"6000 EUR"

That's just insane.

Okay... What about all these "semi search engine" sites? I've seen them at least in Sweden. Nobody can say for sure if they are really actual spiders.

[jecasc]

Thats not insane. The calculation is based according to license fees you would have to pay if you had made a license agreement to use the content:

50 EUR/page and each month the content is used. The amount doubled because no permission was asked before.

If it is not clear how long the content was used the calculation is based on three month as minimum contract time.

However court decisions vary from country to country and many webmasters do not now they can get recompensation but still send emails and beg for their content to be removed. Then the thief makes a few changes here and there and tells them that its now his content.

Those "semi search engines" use only small content snippets. If it's legal depends on how much content is used and in which way its presented.

[Harry]

There's a rule of thumb that says that if you didn't write it or get permission to use it, than you cannot use it.

It's all very simple to remember. It's so much easier to just write stuff yourself.

[caveman]

> How exactly would Google detect this?

I dunno. But recently, they sure did get a lot better at it. ;-)

[jomaxx]

They have teams of very bright people writing algorithms to detect this sort of thing. And needless to say, any site starting from zero and quickly adding a million pages or more would be very suspect.

Plus they actively solicit feedback about the quality of their search rankings, which webmasters and regular surfers are only too happy to provide.

[mcavic]

There's another rule of thumb: don't try to beat the search engines; you can't, at least not for very long. Just build a good site, maybe pay for some PPC ads to get the traffic started, and you'll get there.

If you can't build a good site (or have someone build a good site for you) then you shouldn't be on the Web.

[KimmoA]

"just write stuff yourself"

Yeah... that'll only take a few billion years. ;)

I know that it's unethical and stuff. I want to hear your comments on it. And stuff.

[jomaxx]

You heard them. If you're trying to start a flamewar you'll have more success over on Usenet.

[KimmoA]

"If you're trying to start a flamewar you'll have more success over on Usenet."

Why do you think this? :S

BTW... My ISP sucks and doesn't carry a news server anymore :/

[mack]

would you take the recent best seller from the bookstore, copy it word for word and publish it as your own?

The difference between my example and what you are thinking about are not worlds appart. It's copyright theft, plain and simple.

If you do it be prepared for legal action.

Mack.