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Google Blocks 'Optimized' Pages

Posted by timothy on from the they-own-their-servers dept.

Rhett Creighton writes "For the past few years, webmasters have found tricks that bring their page higher for a given keyphrase search. Google recently implemented a filter to block sites that appeared to be tricking it into gaining a higher ranking. This NYTimes article reports of angry retailers who are losing their businesses, while this article gives more technical conspiracy theories of what google is actually doing."

4 of 562 comments (clear)

  1. uh huh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Your Google search for 'scrotum' returned the following results:
    • Buy scrotum at scrotum.blockbustervideo.com
    • Buy scrotum at scrotum.paulsplumbingsupply.com
    • Buy scrotum at scrotum.bigandtall.com
    • View scrotum at scrotum.highschoolreunion.com
    YES YES YES $$$$$$$ BUY BUY BUY !!!!
    YES YES YES $$$$$ BUY BUY BUY !!!!
    www.scrotum.dk/buy/ - (link goes to MP3.com)

    Where none of those sites have anything to do with scrot, but google pastes it into a string and a phony hit nonetheless...and this is what they're fighting over?
  2. Re:What am I missing? by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 0, Redundant
    About 50% of the time when I'm searching, I AM looking for vendors of a product in order to do price comparisons.

    Try froogle.google.com/. Very helpful for such searches.

    Anyway, they're not trying to filter out worthwhile results, but spam results. People do all sorts of weird things to try to make their site look like a worthwhile hit when it's really not.

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  3. M$ IIS by penguinoid · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Look at the Netcraft page for microsoft.com and www.microsoft.com - they have their windoze boxes behind Linux

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  4. Linkus Interruptus by DrVomact · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Thanks a lot. You people have just ruined my career. I have no idea what this goatse thing is about, and being naturally curious tried to go take a look (for purposes of sociological research, natch). I got a message that access to this site was denied because it is "deemed unproductive" by the IT staff of my employer. (I did mention that I am at work, right?) AND my attempt to access it has been logged. Sheesh. Now I'm going to get fired for trying to look at something, and I don't even know what it is.

    --
    Great men are almost always bad men--Lord Acton's Corollary