larryhead
10-30-2005, 08:59 PM
by Michael Pedone
Have you heard about the latest "sport" in dirty online business? It's called Google Bowling and it represents a gaping flaw in Google's system that allows your competitors to sabotage your site to the point of getting it banned or penalized.
This can't happen, right? I mean, Google would have us believe their algorithms are not easily manipulated and that your rankings are safely under your (and their) control. But in fact there's a chink in Google's armor that can have massive consequences for any web business unfortunate enough to have aggressive and unethical competitors.
Here's the loophole, explained
It all began with Google's aggressive attempts to curb link popularity manipulation by penalizing sites that purchase site- wide text link ads to get lots of incoming links in a hurry. (eg: If the ad selling site had 1,000 pages, the advertiser's link would instantly be on 1,000 pages.)
Google began filtering sites that indulged in this kind of linkage and either penalized or flat-out removed the site from its database. Bad news for that business. Excellent news for their competition. Can you guess what's coming next?
Certain scoundrels began thinking: "If buying site-wide text link ads en masse will get my site into hot water with Google, why not buy them for my competitor's site instead? Then just sit back and wait for Google to solve my number one business headache... the competition." (Cue evil laughter sound track.)
This, ladies and gentlemen, is Google Bowling. Simple. Devious. Devastating. And not just in theory; it's really happening out there.
A lot of businesses whose sites once enjoyed great rankings (ours included) and now don't even show up in Google for their own company name.
A small loophole has turned into a devastating black hole, sucking in and wiping out countless quality websites in the process. And it just may be their competitors sending them into the abyss.
Pretty insane the lengths people will go through to kill competitors. :dizzy:
Have you heard about the latest "sport" in dirty online business? It's called Google Bowling and it represents a gaping flaw in Google's system that allows your competitors to sabotage your site to the point of getting it banned or penalized.
This can't happen, right? I mean, Google would have us believe their algorithms are not easily manipulated and that your rankings are safely under your (and their) control. But in fact there's a chink in Google's armor that can have massive consequences for any web business unfortunate enough to have aggressive and unethical competitors.
Here's the loophole, explained
It all began with Google's aggressive attempts to curb link popularity manipulation by penalizing sites that purchase site- wide text link ads to get lots of incoming links in a hurry. (eg: If the ad selling site had 1,000 pages, the advertiser's link would instantly be on 1,000 pages.)
Google began filtering sites that indulged in this kind of linkage and either penalized or flat-out removed the site from its database. Bad news for that business. Excellent news for their competition. Can you guess what's coming next?
Certain scoundrels began thinking: "If buying site-wide text link ads en masse will get my site into hot water with Google, why not buy them for my competitor's site instead? Then just sit back and wait for Google to solve my number one business headache... the competition." (Cue evil laughter sound track.)
This, ladies and gentlemen, is Google Bowling. Simple. Devious. Devastating. And not just in theory; it's really happening out there.
A lot of businesses whose sites once enjoyed great rankings (ours included) and now don't even show up in Google for their own company name.
A small loophole has turned into a devastating black hole, sucking in and wiping out countless quality websites in the process. And it just may be their competitors sending them into the abyss.
Pretty insane the lengths people will go through to kill competitors. :dizzy: