| Google AdWords & Made-for-AdSense Spam Sites |
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Written by Jim Berry February 14, 2006 Over the past year, we've noticed a huge increase in the number of sites that have no real content other than Google AdWords / AdSense. Even the "Sponsored Links" on Google often contain pages with nothing but Google AdWords. As one of the only Directory businesses that does not list Google Ads or use DMOZ listings - 100% of our content is original - we are a frequent target of those who grab our content for creating a quick site to host Google Ads. We've read numerous discussions regarding "click-fraud", but have yet to see any major media report on AdWords Spam. One wonders how much real revenue is being generated by Google, and how much is nothing more than regurgitated content for the sole purpose of making a few dollars a month listing Google AdWords. It seems that this could be a house-of-cards that Google has not yet addressed, or won't due to the potential shock awaiting their bottom line if all these sites were pulled down. I'm also surprised that their supposedly superior technology can't (or won't) ferret out these obvious TOS violators.
Jim Berry
bookkeepinghelp.com
Written by David Spahr
February 15, 2006 "One wonders how much real revenue is being generated by [AdWords and AdSense], and how much is nothing more than regurgitated content... It seems that this could be a house-of-cards that Google has not yet addressed, or won't..." - Jim Berry
I think I remember from threads a while back that
sites like these do get penalized in Google. Most have very little real
content. I do not see them ranking high in my searches generally. I have been solicited for link exchanges from sites like these
over and over. They design sites to look like expert or catalog sites
but actually have no real content. You find out quickly if you email
persons at a site like this that there is no expertise available of any
kind. The light is on but nobody is home.
There are usually things about these sites that design-wise and
content-wise just do not ring true. I saw a vintage postcard site
recently that was like this. It had all kinds of categories. When you
read through the categories they do not make that much sense. A real
postcard collector would notice this immediately. The categories look
more like keyword spam.
These sites tend to all have a very similar look. They have to
live with the structure of the advertising they present. Their
"listings" and "content" look just like search engine listings and have
the same often inexpert or mangled descriptions. A real link or portal
or content page will have an expert or concerned person designing it
that really fine tunes the categories, content and destinations. Very
useful. An Adsense only site will just give whatever commercial sites
Google can regurgitate for certain keywords. Who wants that? I would
rather go directly to Google and view the non-commercial and expert
pages as well. I have gotten to where I click away from any site that
looks like that immediately. Geezzz, they might as well have music
while they are at it.
I think most people will understand what is going on after falling
into a few of these sites. They will learn to stay away because these
sites seldom answer the Clara Peller question: "Where's the beef?".
David Spahr
antique-photography.com
Written by Karl L. Baldwin February 15, 2006
Addressing Jim Berry's post, I have to agree in his
assessment that there has been a huge increase in the number of sites
that have no real content other than Google AdWords / AdSense. But then I would also hasten to point out that Google is addressing this very issue; AND HARSHLY. Log into Matt Cutt's Blog if you want to hear it from the
horses mouth.
Best Regards,
Karl L. Baldwin
MountainLodging
Written by Renee Kennedy February 15, 2006
I'm not exactly sure what sites you're referring to,
or how you're finding these sites in the Google results. But you may
be referring to sites generated by "domain parking services." These parking services (SEDO, TrafficZ, TrafficClub, Revenue.net,
among others) will create actual web pages for your parked domain name
composed mainly of Google or Yahoo ads. Basically, you would "park"
your domain with them by changing the DNS record at your registrar.
Once your domain name is pointing to the parking service, the parking
service then generates a page of ads specific to the topic of your
domain name.
The traffic to these domains are mainly obtained by people typing
the domain name directly into the browser address bar and not so much
by the search engine results pages. Millions of dollars are generated each year from these domain
parking services. But people are mainly using services like SEDO and
TrafficZ in order to buy and sell their domain names.
Renee Kennedy Written by Carrie MacKenzie February 16, 2006
Google Adwords was the first one I dropped. Overture lasted a lot
longer, but now I've stopped it as well. Last month even Looksmart was
dropped. I found that for me, to be number 1, 2, or 3, meant a lot of
busy work... answering letters from folks that weren't really all that
interested... being 8th or 9th means that by the time they get to me,
they have a better idea of what they want, and are usually more
inclined to finish the purchase.
Not all pay per clicks didn't work well... I also am a part of a bridal network of vendors, and pay per click there with great results. It's a highly targeted web site, and I will remain a member for a long time to come.
Just my $.02 :)
Carrie MacKenzie
Written by Ken Evoy February 16, 2006
"...we've noticed a huge increase in the number of sites that have no real content..." - Jim Berry
From "trash sites" written by humans to
"scrape-slice-and-dice" site-generators, the sheer volume of junk is
terrifying. We see it because we are running our own spider to index
the Net and bring back the most sophisticated measures of who is doing
what on the Net yet. How bad is it?
My guess, based on what we see during our spidering (reviewing
random samples by eye to learn how to eliminate the truly bad from the
index), is that 75% of sites are trash. Our index will ultimately
provide a better estimate of competition because we have the luxury of
not having to provide the "search" side of things. So we can focus on
the long-term and present a non-biased statistically significant
sampling of the Net. Not even Google, not even Alexa's new beta of
their Web snapshots, can do that.
Right now... their databases are stuffed with junk. Of course,
when you do that to engines, they fight back with vigor. And I every
confidence they will fight back and win, although this fight is far
softer, far more amorphous, than they've ever faced. One little indicator...
For years, our adsense.sitesell.com had the top spot if you looked
up "adsense" at Google (after the Google sites and Google blogs
themselves, of course). We did NOT optimize for it. It just happened
because the content is great and there are lots of links to it, etc.,
etc. But now, a page from technorati has slipped ahead of us. Fair
enough. Technorati is terrific. But here's what struck me. That page
has an ad for...
"Download Adsense Ready Web Sites Over 150 content-rich web
sites" Take a look where it goes... adsenseready.com. These
folks sell stuff that others "customize." Basically, the Web is being
blanketed in "customized content crap" (if these people even take the
time to customize).
The core drivers have reversed. Instead of monetizing a GREAT site, AdSense drives the creation of CRAP sites. The solution? Google hates to throw humans at problems. I admire
them because they will take the hit while figuring out how to solve a
problem for the long-term, through technology. But however they do
it... They must figure a better way to score sites. They must not let
bad sites into AdSense. And they must drop bad sites from their
program, WITHOUT dropping good ones. Not easy. Bad people, the equivalent of con artists offline simply bang out
tons of pre-written, low-value info, copying or slightly modifying
open-source stuff, or buying "ready-made" stuff. But it doesn't matter
if a human touches it. Trash is trash. Human visitors recognize it. And
Google is learning to take it out to the curb. The tide will indeed
turn. The lazy and the dishonest jump upon ANYTHING that is easy and
cheap and that brings short-term money.
But... Human surfers get frustrated and turned off when searches direct
them to sites that offer no value and do not address their needs, do
not provide the solutions they are looking for. Google, or any other
SE, cannot afford their surfers to be unhappy. If you threaten the
integrity of Google, do not expect them to sit still.
Google tracks human satisfaction nowadays. The days of on-page
relevance are long put to bed. That's just the ante now. The key?
Google tracks hundreds of off-page criteria that give them a good
estimate of what humans think. These canNOT be Search Engine Optimized
(SEO'd)...
All the best,
Ken Evoy
sitesell.com
Comments (2)
Anthony Bradley
said:
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| Writing this 18 months later I still see MFA sites around so not much has been done, although I hear that Google is cracking down on them at long last. We shall see. One thing is for sure whatever money has been made by these sites has also benefited Google as well, but not the poor advertisers who are paying for clicks from the people who are exiting these sites by the nearest exit. |
Jamie Dean
said:
| It is a game of cat and mouse, there will always be spammers looking to make a quick buck off of thin sites and Google will always be trying to fight them off. |
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