Tricks to get you banned.

[MakeMeTop]

I've just come across this bit of spam which is clearly designed so that if it gets caught - it takes me down as the spammer.

Type in to the browser window view-source:http://www.in-home.co.uk/info.html or turn off javascript and goto the page.

You will see a page produced by some SEO company I've never heard of (but who I assume is bfound.co.uk) who have set up their own hidden link farm for sites to do with their market. In amongst them, the only SEO company listed is a link to my home page. I assume this is designed to try and show that I was the spammer and (if caught) to suffer the consequences!

Is this a worrying new trend to get competitors banned? And what do I/we do about it! If I hadn't come across this and I had got banned for it - how would I have ever got unbanned?

It looks pretty nasty to me!

[Dan0]

They can't be doing that for SEO purposes, so they must be after something else. You may be right.

You're not suggesting Google would do something arbitrary and heavy-handed without completely investigating the situation, are you?

[ihelpyou]

That IS nasty. nasty, nasty boy. . . . . . . oh that nasty boy.

There must be 300 hidden links in that code. I could not find your link Barry but I can clearly see how I missed it. :)

[Dan0]

That's utterly useless as an SEO tactic, unless I am completely misinformed. Maybe they heard they'd be a better "hub" if they put up a bunch of links?

I imagine Google would just dump the domain if they found something like this. It's obviously just a laundry list of links - they even link to geocities.com in there. If they've gone as far as I suspect, they already know who most of the "good" SEOs are.

[MakeMeTop]

>I could not find your link Barry..

Just do a search for makemetop :)

When I did see it, I did a thorough check to see if any other SEO links were in there. But I was the only one.

I'm not having a good time here at the moment - I found another site who had put up a load of autogenerated spam with the word makemetop sprinkled randomly on the page. Another site has taken 5 pages of my site and is publishing it as a .pdf document which they have written with no acknowledgement to me. Stupid fools used my resources page and the links still go through to pages on my site or use my affiliate codes! Legal letter time :mad:

[glengara]

I can't understand the rationale, would they not be more likely to get a penalty rather than any linked-to sites?
How did it come up on your radar MMT?

[MakeMeTop]

>How did it come up on your radar MMT?

Someone clicked on the link - so it showed in my logs.

>I can't understand the rationale...

Simple, Google and other search engines have a web map. It is pretty easy to identify suspect SEOs by looking at incoming links from clients. Enough incoming links (especially if this were put on all their clients sites) and it shows quite clearly as 'unnatural' linking. Use Touchgraph to see what I mean. Get a load of spammy pages on different sites with a link targetting your major SEO competitor and what will the map indicate? The SEO who did the spam, supposedly! In this instance, if it were an automated scan bfound would not show up. The only reference to them is the external .js redirect code called by the client site to their own site. An automated penalty application wouldn't pick them up - it would (in this instance) pick me up!

[Kal]

This stinks. I wonder if this is a direct result of your recent publicity via Overture Barry? Jealous competitors? Or do these incidents go back further than that? :mad:

[markymark]

I think you should report the page yourself - point out everything you have said here and see what happens.

Either that or go down to Oxford where bFound are based and kick their pasty southern arses.

[nuthin]

yeah, send in a report yourself explaining what you just said.
i'm sure google knows who the good seo's are anyway.
funny thing for me is i was just optimizing a kitchen design site as i read this :eek:

[MakeMeTop]

>result of your recent publicity...

Quite possibly in this case. Some people in the UK are pretty annoyed that so few SEOs got accreditation - so attempts to denigrate the reputations of those that were are to be expected, I suppose.

However, I've been checking for this kind of thing for years. Pagejacking, code stripping and the like have been happening for at least 2 years. Most times I get it removed and an apology, more recently I seem to get a 'get stuffed' response.

It used to be that most of this came from the States or overseas. Now the majority is UK based. One of the downsides to being so visible.

This is the first time I've seen something done by someone else that could possibly lead to me getting a penalty though, apart from previous code stripping attempts on wannabe SEO sites who then have my trademark plastered all over their cloaked pages. A worrying new trend - as I can not see any other reason for putting me on that page.

[Alan Perkins]

The whole thing makes no sense at all. If it works, they are helping you. If it doesn't work, they are damaging their client.Originally posted by MakeMeTop
I can not see any other reason for putting me on that page.I can see two:

1) Idiocy
2) Incompetence

[glengara]

That page is pretty well hidden, I'm sure the client is blissfully unaware of it.
Which may well give you the leverage to get them to delete the link, and desist from repeating it.

[MakeMeTop]

Alan always makes me feel better :D

I'm calling the client today.

[MakeMeTop]

Link has been removed :)

[Kal]

Thank heavens! :thumb: