4 ms·

> look at the results of your search queries. See any spam? Not in my queries, no.

by derleth 14y ago

silverbax88 14y ago
I'll bet you don't even realize it's spam. Do a search for something like 'water heater reviews' and several of those links on the front page will ultimately send you to an affiliate site or zip submit. Spam.
- derleth 14y ago
  > I'll bet you don't even realize it's spam. This is so condescending it's amazing. You're calling me an idiot, you know that, right?
weavejester 14y ago
I was about to say the same thing. I haven't noticed any spam in my Google search results for a while. If anything, there's less now than there used to be.
sasha-dv 14y ago
@silverbax88 - exactly! No matter how well designed or "active" websites may appear, if its only function is to send you to some affiliate offer - it's spam. The best of them are very good at faking legit websites (even having an active "community" engaged in "discussion"). They are extremely good at faking normal human activity and I don't see the end to it. There's virtually nothing you can do that a script can't do also.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  >if its only function is to send you to some affiliate offer - it's spam // I don't think this definition is quite right. A site can be good and still have as its raison d'etre referring you to a product manufacturer. After all any sales website is doing the same thing, there's just a certain distance between affiliate sites and the manufacturer. Don't get me wrong, a lot of affiliate sites are bogus, unhelpful and given unwarranted prevalence in SERPs; but that doesn't make them all bad. For example in the UK there are sites that offer money back on all purchases - they're affiliate sites that share the affiliate fee with the purchaser.
  - sasha-dv 14y ago
    Monetizing your website with affiliate offers doesn't make it spam. Having no other purpose than to redirect a visitor to an offer - does. Especially if you use less than lilly white SEO techniques. Here's a nice way to put it: Google believes that pure affiliate websites do not provide additional value for web users, especially if they are part of a program that distributes its content to several hundred affiliates. Because a search result could return multiple sites, all with the same content, they create a frustrating user experience. And here's the rest of it: http://bit.ly/KWS1cz http://bit.ly/KWS1cz >For example in the UK there are sites that offer money back on all purchases I don't see the relevance.
    - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
      >I don't see the relevance. // The only purpose of those sites is to get you to follow affiliate links. Were you trying to refer to some sort of passthrough short-linking system or something?

> look at the results of your search queries. See any spam? Not in my queries, no.

by derleth 14y ago

> look at the results of your search queries. See any spam? Not in my queries, no.

I'll bet you don't even realize it's spam. Do a search for something like 'water heater reviews' and several of those links on the front page will ultimately send you to an affiliate site or zip submit. Spam.

derleth 14y ago
> I'll bet you don't even realize it's spam. This is so condescending it's amazing. You're calling me an idiot, you know that, right?

weavejester 14y ago

I was about to say the same thing. I haven't noticed any spam in my Google search results for a while. If anything, there's less now than there used to be.

sasha-dv 14y ago

@silverbax88 - exactly! No matter how well designed or "active" websites may appear, if its only function is to send you to some affiliate offer - it's spam. The best of them are very good at faking legit websites (even having an active "community" engaged in "discussion"). They are extremely good at faking normal human activity and I don't see the end to it. There's virtually nothing you can do that a script can't do also.

pbhjpbhj 14y ago
>if its only function is to send you to some affiliate offer - it's spam // I don't think this definition is quite right. A site can be good and still have as its raison d'etre referring you to a product manufacturer. After all any sales website is doing the same thing, there's just a certain distance between affiliate sites and the manufacturer. Don't get me wrong, a lot of affiliate sites are bogus, unhelpful and given unwarranted prevalence in SERPs; but that doesn't make them all bad. For example in the UK there are sites that offer money back on all purchases - they're affiliate sites that share the affiliate fee with the purchaser.
- sasha-dv 14y ago
  Monetizing your website with affiliate offers doesn't make it spam. Having no other purpose than to redirect a visitor to an offer - does. Especially if you use less than lilly white SEO techniques. Here's a nice way to put it: Google believes that pure affiliate websites do not provide additional value for web users, especially if they are part of a program that distributes its content to several hundred affiliates. Because a search result could return multiple sites, all with the same content, they create a frustrating user experience. And here's the rest of it: http://bit.ly/KWS1cz http://bit.ly/KWS1cz >For example in the UK there are sites that offer money back on all purchases I don't see the relevance.
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    >I don't see the relevance. // The only purpose of those sites is to get you to follow affiliate links. Were you trying to refer to some sort of passthrough short-linking system or something?