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Google AdSense Meta Refresh Hijacked

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the get-your-laugh-on dept.

aaronwall writes "With the latest Google Update Bourbon it appears that Google has had their AdSense site hijacked in the search results by a meta refresh. In March GoogleGuy commented that this sort of activity usually happens to low quality websites."

1 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Hey guys - this is a BIG deal by Gieckboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Adolescent sniping is all well and good (this being Slashdot and all) but this should be a big deal to you even if you refuse to take the time to understand the specifics (RTFM).

    Here's what's going on. Google has a flaw in their algorithm in the way it deals with 302 redirects. Instead of following the internet standard of following the 302 redirect to the new location and indexing that, Google sometimes applies the information, PageRank, and Google ranking position of the 302 destination page back to the page doing the redirecting.

    This means that a third-party (usually a shady webmaster) can steal the ranking position of a competitor's site. The original site is usually removed entirely from the Google index further compounding the damage.

    Google has repeated denied that this problem exists (here on /.) but now they themselves have been a victim of a '302 hijack'

    If Google can be hit by it - anybody can be hit by it. This is big enough to seriously f'up the Internet - get it?