5 ms·

Matt, I have tried reporting a website that buys 100% of its links (I used to work for them and have tons of proof) and is being rewarded with 2.5-3mil hits a

by r0fl 12y ago

Matt, I have tried reporting a website that buys 100% of its links (I used to work for them and have tons of proof) and is being rewarded with 2.5-3mil hits a day from google and yet no one seems to care! Is there a way to get my point across or do I have to write a blog post that gets picked up by HN to get any action taken?

Matt_Cutts 12y ago
Well, the best way to report spam is with our spam report form at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?pli=1 https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?pli=1 because then we can prioritize the report along with other complaints. But you can also post in our webmaster forum at https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/webmasters https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/webmasters or catch us during webmaster office hours--see https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/office-hours https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/office-h... for the schedule of upcoming office hours. Or catch one of us at a search conference (I'll be at SMX Advanced in Seattle in June and at Google I/O later in June). If none of those work, I often pass on spam reports that people tweet to me (or when they do a blog post and tweet me that link). You can also tweet to @googlewmc (for Google Webmaster Central). Or if you add an email address on your HN profile, I'll drop you a note.
- r0fl 12y ago
  Thanks Matt, I have tried the first link several times with no luck. I've heard that it's a myth that it actually gets checked but seems that may be wrong :) I will try all the other avenues mentioned and worst case will fly to Seattle to report this site in person. Site that is blatantly spamming is plaintube and is ranking for an insane amount of adult terms. I'll try to get my point across via the methods you described. It would be wrong of me to hijack this thread to get my point across anymore. Thanks for your time.
- r0fl 12y ago
  Email added in the profile. I would be more than willing to show how you guys are sending millions of hits (daily!) to a site scraping content and buying cheap backlinks. I'm surprised that such tactics work in 2014, and am just as surprised that I got your attention. Hacker news is a powerful place!
  - Matt_Cutts 12y ago
    Hey, I didn't see an email address at https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=r0fl https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=r0fl ? Maybe the page is cached and only gets rebuilt every so often, but you might want to double-check?
    - Natsu 12y ago
      Sometimes people make a mistake and just put it into 'email' (which is non-public) and not into 'about' (which is public).
    - r0fl 12y ago
      @natsu was right, I only had the email in "email" and not "about". Just fixed that, sorry about that.
kapkapkap 12y ago
What is the site?
- jacquesm 12y ago
  http://www.plaintube.com/ http://www.plaintube.com/ apparently. very much NSFW.
rasz_pl 12y ago
just mention that this site is competing with one of Google products/acquisitions.

by r0fl 12y ago

Matt_Cutts 12y ago

Well, the best way to report spam is with our spam report form at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?pli=1 https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?pli=1 because then we can prioritize the report along with other complaints. But you can also post in our webmaster forum at https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/webmasters https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/webmasters or catch us during webmaster office hours--see https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/office-hours https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/office-h... for the schedule of upcoming office hours. Or catch one of us at a search conference (I'll be at SMX Advanced in Seattle in June and at Google I/O later in June). If none of those work, I often pass on spam reports that people tweet to me (or when they do a blog post and tweet me that link). You can also tweet to @googlewmc (for Google Webmaster Central). Or if you add an email address on your HN profile, I'll drop you a note.

r0fl 12y ago
Thanks Matt, I have tried the first link several times with no luck. I've heard that it's a myth that it actually gets checked but seems that may be wrong :) I will try all the other avenues mentioned and worst case will fly to Seattle to report this site in person. Site that is blatantly spamming is plaintube and is ranking for an insane amount of adult terms. I'll try to get my point across via the methods you described. It would be wrong of me to hijack this thread to get my point across anymore. Thanks for your time.
r0fl 12y ago
Email added in the profile. I would be more than willing to show how you guys are sending millions of hits (daily!) to a site scraping content and buying cheap backlinks. I'm surprised that such tactics work in 2014, and am just as surprised that I got your attention. Hacker news is a powerful place!
- Matt_Cutts 12y ago
  Hey, I didn't see an email address at https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=r0fl https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=r0fl ? Maybe the page is cached and only gets rebuilt every so often, but you might want to double-check?
  - Natsu 12y ago
    Sometimes people make a mistake and just put it into 'email' (which is non-public) and not into 'about' (which is public).
  - r0fl 12y ago
    @natsu was right, I only had the email in "email" and not "about". Just fixed that, sorry about that.

kapkapkap 12y ago

What is the site?

jacquesm 12y ago
http://www.plaintube.com/ http://www.plaintube.com/ apparently. very much NSFW.

rasz_pl 12y ago

just mention that this site is competing with one of Google products/acquisitions.