4 replies to this topic

[minda]

I have found a couple instances of spam lately - one has multiple sites with duplicate content. Another site has hidden links on the front page.

I have already reported the spam to Google in the case of the 15+ duplicate sites.

My question:

Should I go ahead and make the same complaint to other places like lycos, yahoo, etc.? Or is noting it to google enough?

There's also only so many hours in the work day so if there's a 'definitely shoot the complaint to these engines' - the information would be much appreciated.

I'm mainly a writer and pretty novice with all things SEO so i'm not very knowledgeable on which search engine feeds off of which search engine.

thanks!

[Jill]

Telling Google won't help the site get removed from other places, except the places that use Google's database. So if you feel strongly about getting the site removed, you'd probably want the other engines to also be notified.

Google currently feeds Yahoo and AOL, so you don't need to notify them.

Jill

[Mel]

HI Minda

I do not like to report spam, but I do make my clients aware if some of thier high ranking competitors are spamming, andmot of them are not reluctant at all.

A Google spam report will, if action is taken, result in the maximum cost to the spammer since Google covers so much of the search engine landscape.


Don't be too surprised if there is no action taken in the near future however.

[minda]

Thanks for the good info!

[awall19]

most of the search engines only use spam reports to refine their algorithms. by reporting spam you still help them do this.

I also noticed that altavista actually gives back email rather quickly in response to spam, and will sometimes remove it rather quickly. altavista may soon die though... only time will tell what yahoo plans to do.