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Could it be as simple as competitors advertising? Morality of paid promotions of academic research aside, it would seem to me that the "Algorithms" would favor

Could it be as simple as competitors advertising? Morality of paid promotions of academic research aside, it would seem to me that the "Algorithms" would favor promoted materials due to a greater "distinct visitors" count and resultant shares. Also without knowing the specifics the statement "Check things over, ensure his server..." stands out a bit. I may be way off on this but suspect this indicates a private physical server possibly located at the researchers office/home? Again, I may be totally wrong but expect the web crawlers favor faster and less latent remote hosted servers over private ones. Especially if there is intermittent and or varying bandwidth on these systems, and issues with security certificates. I also believe that more dynamic content by including feeds related to the subject matter would greatly improve site and search rankings as well as encourage return visits. These things could be dismissed or confirmed quite easily and a fairly low cost. If it seems dishonest to pay for promoting their research. Could they justify it by considering the advertising campaign as research in itself? I am certain there are far more knowledgeable SEO experts who peruse HN and I could be completely incorrect but still feel looking into these things would be a much better use of time and effort rather than chasing phantoms who may or may not be attacking them.

ToBeRemembered 5y ago
This is more or less the most useless reply possible. No, it is not competitors advertising. Ads on Google Search are clearly indicated and there are none for the search terms tested. No, the server is not under his desk (???). The server is a standard dedicated server hosted with a well-known provider. I checked it in terms of configuration (DNS, HTTPS), not with a voltmeter or whatever you have in mind. No, dynamic content and SEO are not going to help when the site does not show up at all. Those are tools for improving ranking, not getting the site to show up whatsoever. Let me put the question more simply: Assuming fraudulent RtbF requests are possible, how can they be identified and challenged?
- sigmaprimus 5y ago
  Well I guess You know best, good luck. Happy New years. Maybe this will help You in your efforts https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/7347822?hl=en&ref_topic=7295796#zippy=%2Care-you-letting-website-owners-know-when-content-is-delisted https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/7347822... I hope this is less useless, next time try to be less "Awesome" and "Fantastic" or "Awtastik" when addressing people who are just trying to help.
  - ToBeRemembered 5y ago
    If I knew best, I wouldn't be asking for help. Accusing someone of chasing phantoms is not polite and awesome in general, never mind when the phantom is dancing around in front of them. Google says results have been removed under data protection law in Europe on every relevant search query that previously included the site in question. No phantoms here. At very least I'd have thought this is an interesting attack vector to think about. Thanks for the link.
    - sigmaprimus 5y ago
      Your welcome I hope You resolve the issue. Here is another link that You may find useful: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7474347?hl=en https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7474347?hl=en

ToBeRemembered 5y ago

This is more or less the most useless reply possible. No, it is not competitors advertising. Ads on Google Search are clearly indicated and there are none for the search terms tested. No, the server is not under his desk (???). The server is a standard dedicated server hosted with a well-known provider. I checked it in terms of configuration (DNS, HTTPS), not with a voltmeter or whatever you have in mind. No, dynamic content and SEO are not going to help when the site does not show up at all. Those are tools for improving ranking, not getting the site to show up whatsoever. Let me put the question more simply: Assuming fraudulent RtbF requests are possible, how can they be identified and challenged?

sigmaprimus 5y ago
Well I guess You know best, good luck. Happy New years. Maybe this will help You in your efforts https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/7347822?hl=en&ref_topic=7295796#zippy=%2Care-you-letting-website-owners-know-when-content-is-delisted https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/7347822... I hope this is less useless, next time try to be less "Awesome" and "Fantastic" or "Awtastik" when addressing people who are just trying to help.
- ToBeRemembered 5y ago
  If I knew best, I wouldn't be asking for help. Accusing someone of chasing phantoms is not polite and awesome in general, never mind when the phantom is dancing around in front of them. Google says results have been removed under data protection law in Europe on every relevant search query that previously included the site in question. No phantoms here. At very least I'd have thought this is an interesting attack vector to think about. Thanks for the link.
  - sigmaprimus 5y ago
    Your welcome I hope You resolve the issue. Here is another link that You may find useful: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7474347?hl=en https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7474347?hl=en