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Wordpress Banned by Google for Spamming

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the there-be-scammers-everywhere dept.

The Real Nick W writes "Wordpress, an incredibly popular Open Source Blogging system was found to be spamming google by inserting hidden links to junk content on high paying Adsense keywords such as mesothelioma and debt consolidation. Following Threadwatch picking up the story an anonymous Google rep appeared in the original thread admonishing bloggers not to use sneaky tactics to rank highly for "duplicate content" such as the 100,000 hidden articles on the Wordpress site. The articles have now dissapeared from Google and it remains to be seen whether Google will ban Wordpress outright as they tend to do when SEO's and web dev's pull these kinds of stunts."

11 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. The day will come when... by feloneous+cat · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... googling something will turn up nothing. But it will do it in 0.073 seconds!

    --
    IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
  2. Heh by Neil+Blender · · Score: 5, Funny

    I search google for mesothelioma about once a week (from various proxies) and click on an adwords ad just to screw some lawyer out of $40 (which is what a click on that keyword costs.)

    1. Re:Heh by clem · · Score: 4, Funny

      You just can't be a joker on slashdot anymore

      But, given the quality of the postings here, you can be a smoker or a late night toker.

      --
      Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
  3. Oh, crap!!! by feloneous+cat · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just ordered mesothelioma from a Greek diner!

    --
    IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
  4. Re:Er... by m50d · · Score: 1, Funny

    Could you clarify that for those of us who are unfamiliar with them? Wikipedia doesn't show anything for it.

    --
    I am trolling
  5. Something fun to do by sulli · · Score: 4, Funny

    Search for mesothelioma and then use Linky to open all links, including ad word links, in tabs. E-Z!

    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
    1. Re:Something fun to do by ErikRed1488 · · Score: 4, Funny
      OK, this is blowing my mind, I clicked on the first ad link on that Google search, which went to maxipharmacy.com. They have news stories on their site, guess what story was first?

      Yep, a link back to this /. story.

      --
      I was not touched there by an angel.
  6. Re:Off topic - Google interview questions by Tumbleweed · · Score: 2, Funny

    Interestingly, this was for a MANAGER position!

    So do they ask management questions of programmers? Human resources questions for janitors?

  7. Re:Next ban eBay! by bigtallmofo · · Score: 4, Funny

    My favorite one during the past presidential election was to search for "vote". Along the side was EBay's ad with the headline "Votes for sale!"

    It seems that's what they do - whatever you search for, they put "for sale" on the tail end of it and hope you click on it.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  8. Re:SEO by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Funny

    One need not revert to sneaky tactics to do well.

    Cool!

    Now once the spammers figure that out, spam will stop.

  9. Re:Next ban eBay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Except it affects the search results in unforseen ways:

    If you're looking for the x-ray observatory, a normal google search for chandra returns the expected links at the top. But with the "clean" search query, NASA and Harvard give way to some Indipop singer named Shiela Chandra, who has an evil Flash-only website.