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GreyWing
14-03-12, 09:35 PM
Seen this in my webmaster tools today.....

"Recommendations

Create a Google+ page
Creating a Google+ page brings you closer to your audience by letting you have real conversations with the right people, connecting you face to face, and making it easy for people to recommend you on Google search."

Basically if you don't promote our junk on your site, you won't do well on our search engine. This is exactly why there stupid social sites won't work because they are being spammed by seo teams. Will they ever learn......?

monaghan
14-03-12, 09:47 PM
I've always wondered why Google places so much value on links (and I guess now G+ likes) when these can so easily be manipulated by the SEO's. As you suggest, we'll now have pages & pages of junk G+ pages cluttering up the indexes alongside the spam pages created just for link manipulation - Progress :)

atlas
14-03-12, 10:50 PM
Careful what you place on Google+ pages. You can end up getting outranked by your Google+ page for your own content or keywords. Google really seem to give a bonus in their SERPs to Google+.

Agree - it's pretty similar to blackmail :(

atlas
14-03-12, 11:46 PM
Interesting article today: Ex-Google employee says Google+ has ruined the company

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/14/technology/microsoft-google-rant/index.htm


"My last three months working for Google was a whirlwind of desperation," wrote Whittaker, who headed an engineering team for social network Google+. "The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus."

GreyWing
15-03-12, 12:34 AM
Great find Jeff, it appears to mirror exactly what I am finding when searching round the web. I really hope that the EU takes a bite out of their backsides for those types of blackmailing statement. It really is shocking stuff and anti competitive.

Good to see Google staff deserting that sinking ship... they have gone all out to compete with facebook and its ripped the search engine stuff apart. I have analysed some of my sites and if done right facebook accounts for 70% of the traffic with Google only accounting for 20%.

aZooZa
15-03-12, 01:57 AM
I've commented on 'the greed machine' so many times - I don't think it will be long before they shoot themselves in the foot. That ex-employee sums it all up quite well I think. They shafted Simon and I when they arbitrarily cut off all PAID tokens to their AdWords API, which left DCE totally in the lurch without any notice. That move cost a few firms their existence. They gave us back the access but we'd moved over to Bing by then where we found the LSV numbers in their API more convincing, and the service is free.

Take a look here:

http://www.ukdomainforum.co.uk/showthread.php?269-Search-volume-nonsense

GreyWing
15-03-12, 03:34 AM
Be funny to watch as now they are completely corporate they will make more and more mistakes in search of profit. The more they lose the more they will try to make up for it and a vicious circle begins.

I know the thoughts is too big to fail, but how many times have I come across sites that were dominant at one time or another. eBay, at one time they were a massive selling portal, now barely notice them. Paypal used to be the only way for small online retailers, now merchant accounts are all over the place. I'm sure there are loads more companies out there that were dominant at one point or another and now an accessory rather than a must.

Just trying to weigh up now weather better to ban their bot from my sites and think that visitors know my brand now on a news site that they come direct. Benefits are that they don't go through Google and click competitors ads before they get to us because they will know we ain't there.

aZooZa
15-03-12, 05:17 AM
Although I've not been a MS fan for a long time, I have to remember back in the day when Bill Gates was writing BASIC interpreters (e.g. Tandy 100 'tablet' and Sharp PC-1500) and then MSDOS came out, which was the basis of a big earner for me at the time. I'm now becoming a fan of MS again and find myself using Bing more than Google, probably in part because G is firewalled out in China, but google.com.hk works fine - how daft is that?

Anyway, I digress. Google's failures could well benefit MS. Which is the greedier of the two I wonder?

GreyWing
15-03-12, 01:30 PM
Bloody hell they have gone banzai on us....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2115273/Google-Semantic-search-answer-questions-shift-makes-like-Bing.html

Why as a website owner will I allow my content to appear on Google's site as if they wrote it. So visitors no longer need to come to my site?

Bot killing time I think now....

aZooZa
15-03-12, 02:16 PM
Check out the comments on that article - looks like there's going to be a lot more pissed-off people yet.

GreyWing
16-03-12, 01:51 AM
Heard about something called "do not track plus" which is a bolt on for firefox.

Shows you everyone trying to track you and blocks them, jeez there is a lot. Plus this speeds up the browser by about 40%, actually on par with chrome speeds now.

http://www.donottrackplus.com/postinstall2.php?v=2.0.9&b=ff&o=DNTP_t5&ov=2.0.9&r=5541&t=ffamo

aZooZa
16-03-12, 02:22 AM
Brilliant - installed in both Chrome and FF.

Rob_F
16-03-12, 02:59 AM
When I actually want to search the internet, I find myself using Bing more and more. I probably use Bing 40 - 50% of the time these days. Fed up of getting a page of crap when I conduct a Google search.

- Rob

aZooZa
17-03-12, 12:34 AM
Good to see Google engaging harmoniously with its breadmakers yet again:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17403328

GreyWing
17-03-12, 03:51 AM
Looks like Baidu coming up on the outside rail. Google's dominance and arrogance will be ended within 5 years in my opinion.

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/chinese-search-giant-baidu-launches-smartphone-with-forked-android-version/

"All of this only furthers Android’s fragmentation issues, without benefitting Google at all. It remains to be seen inhowfar this will affect Android’s long-term prospects, especially with developers, who, despite it’s faster growing marketshare, are still reluctant to put Android over iOS when developing new apps."

Google getting android stolen from beneath their feet... bit of justice in that after what they did to Apple

aZooZa
17-03-12, 05:30 AM
No doubt Gargoyle(tm) are kicking themselves over their handling of Android from the get-go. They were over-confident weren't they! Gave too much away thinking they would control the market! Apple played it very well - gave nothing away.

Baidu is definitely the pony to watch. And Taobao coud easily give piratEBAY(tm) a run for their money. Almost everything bought on the internet in China is via Taobao. Almost every vendor there offers live chat, one-on-one during purchase, and SMS confirmations of orders etc. etc. It's unsurprising that there's no real retail presence on the Chinese net other than Taobao - there's no need for it. It's not a state monopoly either. This is one of the reasons why there's really little market for domain names in PRC.

The Chinese are not ones to rest on laurels. What would you prefere to have in your long-term stock portfolio? Baidu or Google shares? Someone at Gargoyle is going to wake up and smell these wilted roses soon.

Ahh - the bliss of ignorant childhood slumber!

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/blo/lowres/blon110l.jpg

GreyWing
17-03-12, 06:02 AM
Apple played it very well - gave nothing away.

Even Steve Job's never forgave some guy he employed from Google (can't remember who, but apple employed him) to work on the iphone. He then did the dirty on Apple and went back to Google with a load of secrets, shortly after Android pops up with loads of similar features. Job's went to his grave cursing the Evil of Google.

Certainly wouldn't be buying in the big G right now, if Baidu shares ever came up for purchase I would invest quite a bit in them, sleeping giant as far as westerners are concerned. Only 2 months ago big G's shares lost 10%, so maybe tide is already turning.

I guess from my point of view as long as whoever comes in respects exact match I'll be happy and I don't see anyway round exact match bonus. Is China not the next big domain name market then Dale?

aZooZa
17-03-12, 07:04 AM
Is China not the next big domain name market then Dale?
Unless I'm missing something profound Graeme, I don't see it at all. There are loads of numerical .coms in use here - many addressing the Chinese general superstitions about numbers (leaving them out and putting them in). Others are just completely random .coms. I don't see any EM or keyword philosophy at work here at all. In fact, I've yet to come across a Chinese IDN domain name while browsing the Chinese internet. Not a domain market I'd put anything into.

This is Chinese for 'Baidu': 百度

The puny for 百度, xn--wxtr44c.com yields a parked page - no doubt the product of a bright entrepreneur here.

As I say, I might be missing something but it's all strange stuff to me.

GreyWing
18-03-12, 02:45 AM
Interesting read Dale... one to keep an eye on, could be some opportunities over there in years to come.

Just found this in webmaster tools, they are now looking at software behind the sites.....

"!Dear site owner or webmaster of http://www.barnsleynews.co.uk/,
As of the last crawl of your website, you appear to be running Joomla 1.7. Google recommends that you update to the latest release. Older or unpatched software may be vulnerable to hacking or malware that can hurt your users. To download the latest release, visit the Joomla download page. If you have already updated to the latest version of Joomla, please disregard this message.
If you have any additional questions about why you are receiving this message, Google has provided more background information in a blog post about this subject.
Best wishes,
Google Search Quality Team"

atlas
18-03-12, 04:37 PM
I've received warnings like that from Google about using old versions of WordPress - I think the warnings were even emailed to me.

GreyWing
18-03-12, 05:10 PM
It always beats me why CMS's and forums place details in the code of exactly what type of version of something you are using. Of course it needs to be in the backend but why they put it in the front end is beyond me. Surely it is telling hackers and hacking bots what you are using and what techniques will open your version up.

aZooZa
21-03-12, 04:34 AM
The Gargoyle™ is at it again:

http://domaingang.com/domain-news/google-to-charge-extra-for-special-search-placement/

GreyWing
21-03-12, 08:25 PM
Just read that Panda has also whacked Google hard, apparently they have lost hundreds of millions if not over a billion by kicking out sites that used to generate them income by adsense. All my sites have stopped using adsense now since panda, so maybe when you think about it, this has some legs to it.

No doubt the finance department will be on the phone shortly to the search team trying to find out why they have lost so much..

getmein
27-03-12, 08:29 AM
No doubt the finance department will be on the phone shortly to the search team trying to find out why they have lost so much..

If all else fails - they'll just add a few more paid links to the homepage. BTW thank you for the do not track tip - already speeding up my browsing.

GreyWing
28-03-12, 11:13 AM
If all else fails - they'll just add a few more paid links to the homepage. BTW thank you for the do not track tip - already speeding up my browsing.

You are more than welcome, glad it helps.

Looks like Google has gone too far now..... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2121450/Google-faces-massive-fines-alleged-abuse-dominance-internet.html

I hate the hell out of the EU, but Britain, France and Germany etc can't take on these interests on our own but as a group it is powerful, very powerful.. Great to see that what we have been talking about on this site for a while is now being seen by others.

davedevelopment
28-03-12, 12:01 PM
It always beats me why CMS's and forums place details in the code of exactly what type of version of something you are using. Of course it needs to be in the backend but why they put it in the front end is beyond me. Surely it is telling hackers and hacking bots what you are using and what techniques will open your version up.

I don't think it matters all that much, people in the industry would call that 'security by obscurity', and it can help a little but not all that much. It would maybe delay them, but if a site is exploitable, they'll exploit it.


I've started using duckduckgo.com for search now and then, the results aren't as good as Google or Bing, but I'd prefer to support a small bootstrapped company than one of the big guns.

aZooZa
28-03-12, 12:27 PM
More Gargoyle bad press: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17523020

GreyWing
05-04-12, 08:48 PM
Here we are, the real reason behind Panda http://www.lakestarmedia.com/news/5693/google-launches-affiliate-network-in-uk/

Of course been in the US for sometime but now hit the UK...

A purge on affiliate based websites who use other affiliate systems followed by, you guessed it an affiliate based scheme by those that did the purging.

Awesome.....

khalid
06-04-12, 06:40 PM
bend over and take it basically otherwise don't expect your rankings to stay. Google has gone to the dogs.

Sean
07-04-12, 08:45 AM
Just playing Devils advocate here.

Perhaps we should ask ...

Why should our site be page 1 of Google? What value do we add? Why does our thin affiliate site that is by nature parasitic (it feeds off everything and everyone) deserve to be ahead of a business that holds stock etc..

I hate to say it but I think Google is getting it right, thin affiliate sites are a scourge on the internet.

aZooZa
07-04-12, 11:29 AM
I think perhaps that it's Google that's the money-grabbing, manipulative and monopolistic parasite.

rob
07-04-12, 01:03 PM
People have opted into it and IMHO its too embedded now to ignore unless there is a 'union' style revolt but there is close to zero chance of that.

Embrace our new overlords!

Or, be smart and make sure you control things not G.

GreyWing
07-04-12, 01:30 PM
Just playing Devils advocate here.

Perhaps we should ask ...

Why should our site be page 1 of Google? What value do we add? Why does our thin affiliate site that is by nature parasitic (it feeds off everything and everyone) deserve to be ahead of a business that holds stock etc..

I hate to say it but I think Google is getting it right, thin affiliate sites are a scourge on the internet.

I'd totally agree mate, and if that was their thinking on affiliates then I could understand it. But then you wouldn't expect them to bring out their own affiliates program to replace those they had removed 6 months before. It's clear abuse of a dominant market position, damage the competition and then bring out your own solution.

There isn't as much consistency as people think in Google, the Panda update took out hundreds of thousands of legitimate sites and replaced them with spammers.

I'd love to see an update from Microsoft where they banned anyone from using google on a windows pc, see how Google like it. Microsoft could just say that Google brings nothing to the web in Microsofts opinion and nothing anyone can do. Microsoft would just say, what gives you the right to appear when someone types in the name of your company in our software?

Of course this is crazy, but Google seem to get away with it every day....

GreyWing
07-04-12, 01:33 PM
People have opted into it and IMHO its too embedded now to ignore unless there is a 'union' style revolt but there is close to zero chance of that.

Embrace our new overlords!

Or, be smart and make sure you control things not G.

There is a lot to that Rob, I would never take on staff again on the back of the traffic Google brings me. There is zero stability and I don't trust them. There used to be a time 4-5 years ago when adverts used to say "Google Volvo's fast car", them days have long gone. Not even advertisers now trust Google to bring back the right results for a search term.

Sean
07-04-12, 09:30 PM
I'd totally agree mate, and if that was their thinking on affiliates then I could understand it. But then you wouldn't expect them to bring out their own affiliates program to replace those they had removed 6 months before. It's clear abuse of a dominant market position, damage the competition and then bring out your own solution.

There isn't as much consistency as people think in Google, the Panda update took out hundreds of thousands of legitimate sites and replaced them with spammers.

I'd love to see an update from Microsoft where they banned anyone from using google on a windows pc, see how Google like it. Microsoft could just say that Google brings nothing to the web in Microsofts opinion and nothing anyone can do. Microsoft would just say, what gives you the right to appear when someone types in the name of your company in our software?

Of course this is crazy, but Google seem to get away with it every day....

I hate the fact that Google holds such a dominant position but like Rob said I think that getting rid of them would be very difficult if not impossible. It needs the type of campaign that we saw with Firefox but they had the advantage of fear because rightly or wrongly they made enough people believe that Internet Explorer would make their computer vulnerable to virus'.

I'm also being a bit two faced because I've tried other search engines and end up going back to Google (anyone got any recommendations?)

GreyWing
08-04-12, 12:22 AM
I'm also being a bit two faced because I've tried other search engines and end up going back to Google (anyone got any recommendations?)

For the lesser stuff, more technical things google is cracking. But then again they ain't trying to fight off spammers for those lower end value searches. Anything of value and Google is trying to fight off spammers and get a piece of the pie.

aZooZa
08-04-12, 12:41 AM
I hate the fact that Google holds such a dominant position but like Rob said I think that getting rid of them would be very difficult if not impossible. It needs the type of campaign that we saw with Firefox but they had the advantage of fear because rightly or wrongly they made enough people believe that Internet Explorer would make their computer vulnerable to virus'.

I'm also being a bit two faced because I've tried other search engines and end up going back to Google (anyone got any recommendations?)
The general public perception of the gargoyle seems never better:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/88289248/Popularity-Poll

I would hazard a guess that the sample polled wouldn't include many of the individuals and companies in the business that have helped in some part to make Google what it is today, and have now been royally shafted.

As I can't get G.com on my iPad, I have been using Bing. It's quite a nice change now and then, but of course I use both sites.

As I discussed in a thread previously here (http://www.ukdomainforum.co.uk/showthread.php?269-Search-volume-nonsense&highlight=bing+dce), I find G's AdWords search tool to be extremely unrealistic with regards to (IMO) crazy results sometimes for LSV. But as it's the tool that most of us in this business use to ply our trade in some way, it seems we're locked in.

GreyWing
25-04-12, 04:00 PM
Looks like Google gone all banzai on people's arses today...

atlas
25-04-12, 06:00 PM
Looks like Google gone all banzai on people's arses today...

Understatement of the year! Pretty crazy stuff happening.

GreyWing
25-04-12, 06:37 PM
Mine have gone up mate...... I think from having the need to write this thread months ago I got an image of what was coming the hard way.

I also posted here and on acorn that you can not run a business on the internet with any type of staffing, because Google would wreck it if they wanted to and you would have to lay off staff. I said it before on record, I would never again build a business plan that relied on Google. None of my sites or businesses rely on Google.

Businesses will be laying off staff today because of this, no regulation, no come back, no impartial adjudication. If the Government did this to your business there would be legal action, Google is a different story. But since I stopped worrying about seo and such my sites have gone up and my exact matches are flying at the moment.

But still odd weird sites with no content that rank highly which shows inconsistency and I think that is what everyone is arguing against. I think it is also true they have punished incoming links with keyword anchor text.

Not a seo guru, I just got my backside slapped a few months before others.

atlas
25-04-12, 08:08 PM
Mine have gone up mate......

Congrats!


I also posted here and on acorn that you can not run a business on the internet with any type of staffing, because Google would wreck it if they wanted to and you would have to lay off staff. I said it before on record, I would never again build a business plan that relied on Google. None of my sites or businesses rely on Google.

Unfortunately, very true. The free traffic from Google is addictive, and then one day it's gone.


But still odd weird sites with no content that rank highly which shows inconsistency and I think that is what everyone is arguing against. I think it is also true they have punished incoming links with keyword anchor text.

I'm seeing that old sites that haven't been touched in a long time are suddenly doing well.

GreyWing
26-04-12, 06:35 AM
Here is my prediction, someone turns up at Google HG and goes on a gun run. Investigation finds that their live was ruined by Google's changes.

I'm surprised it hasn't happened already, Americans are crazy enough and enough guns about over there for someone with nothing to lose getting trigger happy.

getmein
26-04-12, 11:07 AM
Here is my prediction, someone turns up at Google HG and goes on a gun run. Investigation finds that their live was ruined by Google's changes.

I'm surprised it hasn't happened already, Americans are crazy enough and enough guns about over there for someone with nothing to lose getting trigger happy.

I was thinking exactly the same yesterday. Will be like that day trader who went on a killing spree in 1999.

That aside, must say this is a pretty shocking update - makes me wonder how big the largest 'testing' data set is, before they roll out the changes for all the impacted searches. I'm expecting some further tweaking.