Very Strange Results using link:

Very bad sites out there

[webdude]

Hello,

I am doing some SEO stuff for a client. I usually go to yahoo and check IBLs to see what is out there. I am getting some very bad stuff from the results of site explorer. I need to figure out what happened, why, and how to correct. Any insite would be helpful.

When I search link:www.mysite.com, I get the usual results. There appear to be around 300 links listed. All appears normal.

When I search link:mysite.com (without the www), I am getting very (and I mean very) bad stuff. All links are redirected to porn sites, sites that automatically start scans or try to install stuff, viagra link sites, etc. I am talking sopme very, very bad stuff here. I tested this on 3 machines on our network to make sure this wasn't some sort of internal thing. I then had this tested on two networks outside of our facility and I am getting the same results.

Here is what is very strange... when I click on these returns around 5 times (any of them) I get these bad redirects. After that, all the clicks go to a viagra directory type page or a word press page, even clicks that had before gone to the bad stuff. It is almost like there is a counter that counts the number of clicks, and then all the clicks default to this viagra page or word press page. When I check the cache (from yahoo) on the returns page, I get the same thing after 5 clicks, then it goes to a viagra page or word press page.

I go to a different machine... same thing.
I go to a different network... same thing
I use a different provider... same thing

I go out side of our networks and use someone elses provider... same thing.

I need some help here folks. This is very bad stuff and can't be helping this compnay at all. I cannot find anything even remotely similar in msn or google.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[martinibuster]

Assuming your antivirus is up to date and firewall is functioning, did you visit the cache with your JS turned off?

[jdMorgan]

Also check your domain's DNS zone file... See this possibly-related thread [webmasterworld.com].

Jim

[webdude]

Okay... I checked the zone file and all seems okay. I then disabled javascript and did the same link:mysite.com search. Every link, except for 60 out of the 600 or so, go to a page generated in wordpress. On all these pages there is a link that goes to mysite.com on the right hand side under "links." Most of the text on these pages are gibberish with lots of links to sites. When I run my mouse over any menu items, I get either "read i.example.com" or "transferring from i.example.com." in the bottom of the browser... very wierd. Some sort os scam or scrape as far as I can tell.

[edited by: martinibuster at 7:18 pm (utc) on April 25, 2008]
[edit reason] Removed specifics. [/edit]

[martinibuster]

Sounds like it's a scraper/whatever with a JS redirect that is linking to the site.

[g1smd]

So, does their end track the referrer of where you are coming from?

What happens when you disable your browser from sending a referrer, or you send a fake referrer as if you were coming from some other site?

What happens to all of those when you change your UA to be Google or something else?

[webdude]

g1smd,

I am unsure as to how to check these things. How do you tell whether they are tracking the referrer? It would seem the referrer would be yahoo, if that is where I am coming from. If I cut and paste the URL into a newly opened browser (no referrer), I get the same results.

[webdude]

Also, when I do a site: check with or without www in google or yahoo, I do not see any of these pages show up. This only seems to be coming from yahoo with the link: command.

[webdude]

Okay, so if this is a subdomain thing or just a proliferation of links added to blog pages with redirects, I gotta ask... what is the advantage to have someone doing this? As far as I can see, there seems to be no advantage whatsoever. Are they getting juice from me? Are they hoping to scab a wayward link somehow? I guess I just don't see it. I can see black hats trying to do a highjack or something else to leverage some sort of advantage, but I cannot see how this is helping anyone.

[webdude]

Any comments at all?

[webdude]

Any comments at all?

[martinibuster]

>>>Any comments at all?

Nothing beyond:

Sounds like it's a scraper/whatever with a JS redirect that is linking to the site.

That's all there is to it. Some site with a redirect is linking to you. That's it. I doubt there's any harm in it.

[bwnbwn]

I have a question does he have the non www redirected to the www version?

[webdude]

Yes, the non www is redirected to the www. I noticed a typo in my first post. The link:www.mysite.com is showing around 3000 incoming, all legitimate links. Link:mysite.com is showing around 600 incoming. Of these, about 10% are legitimate and the rest are all garbage.

I do not have complete control over this site. I am working with a developer and I asked that he change DNS to add a wildcard for all subdomains. There are about 5 legitimate subdomains already in the DNS.