Spammers make money when visitors click on links on their web pages. Revenue sources are of two general types:
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads: Spammers make money each time an ad is clicked. PPC ads appear on many different types of web pages. Sponsored links is another term for ads.
Thin Affiliates: Spammers make money when a transaction is made after the user has clicked through to the merchant’s site.
Exceptions: Pages should generally not be marked Spam if they provide added value. Added value refers to original or other useful content on the page, regardless of whether there are PPC ads. Examples of content that provides added value include:
• Price comparison functionality: Even though the user has to go to another site via the affiliate link to place an order, there is value to have price comparisons right there on the page.
• Product reviews: Pages that provide original reviews offer added value. Items that are commonly reviewed are books, electronics, and hotels.
• Recipes: Pages that provide recipes offer added value.
• Lyrics and quotes: Pages that display lyrics or quotes offer added value.
• Contact information: Pages that provide contact information, especially physical addresses and phone numbers, offer added value.
• Coupon, discount, and promotion codes: Affiliate pages that provide coupon, promotion, or discount codes for the consumer offer added value. TYPES OF SPAM This section describes the following types of Spam and provides tips and tools on how to identify them.
• PPC Pages
• JavaScript Redirects • Parked Domains • Keyword Stuffing • Thin Affiliates • 100% Frame • Hidden Text and Hidden Links
• Sneaky Redirects 1. PPC Pages Many web pages are set up for the purpose of collecting pay-per-click (PPC) revenue without providing any or much content of their own. These pages will frequently look like search results, or they may look like a blog or message board (forum) pages.
There are many different types of PPC pages:
Pages with PPC Ads only: Some pages contain nothing but PPC ads (or sponsored links).
Fake Directories with PPC Ads: With a fake directory, you will see a list of links that look like search results. However, clicking on a few links reveals that they are just ads disguised as “results”. Example of a fake directory: http://www.favse.com/search.php?q=online+kitchen+design+tool
Fake Blogs with PPC Ads: With a fake blog, you will see an entry that is either nonsensical or copied from another source. The page exists so that the links on the page will be clicked.
Example of a fake blog:http://isinternetbackgammoncom.blogspot.com/
Fake Message Boards with PPC Ads: With a fake message board, you will see “messages”, but you will not see responses to the messages. The text in the message may be nonsensical or the “message” may contain PPC links within it.
There may also be PPC links on the page. You may actually find entire copied forums that have been scraped from various sources that provide content. The sites may appear to offer comments, registration, and login sections, but when you attempt to use them, they either don’t work at all or you land back on the same page.
Scraped or Copied Content with PPC Ads: Scraped or copied content refers to content that has been stolen from another source, either through the use of a piece of software that searches for content containing specific keywords, or through simple copy-and-paste. It also refers to content obtained from sources that allow for distribution and may even encourage re-use, such as Wikipedia and DMOZ. Some of the sources that are routinely scraped or downloaded from by spammers are:
•http://www.wikipedia.org/ : A human-edited online encyclopedia that is freely available for download and re-use.
• http://www.dmoz.org/ : The Open Directory Project, a human-edited directory of the Web also available for download.
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and XML (Extensible Markup Language) news feeds: web publishers (such as the BBC, CNN, Usenet, CNet, NYTimes, and others) publish information online that is readily available to users.
• Scraped search results from other companies: Overture.com and Searchfeed.com, among others, provide feeds of PPC search results to most qualifying webmasters.
• Templates: Some sites utilize templates to mass-reproduce web pages automatically. The content is usually scraped from sources that provide such content.
You will learn to recognize these templates which usually follow a generic format or pattern. Please note that the acquisition of content from these sources is not necessarily illegal, nor plagiarism. Webmasters who create copies usually do not claim to be original content creators and may, in fact, assign credit to the originator of the content.
Recognizing Scraped Content You can copy a snippet of text (a sentence or part of a sentence) and paste it in the search box to see if you can find its source. You will sometimes discover that the text was copied from Wikipedia or one of the other sites mentioned above, or you may find that the text exists on many, many web pages.
You will see various revenue sources (PPC ads) surrounding the content, unlike the original sources (Wikipedia, DMOZ, etc.) that display no ads. After a while, you will become familiar with the format of Wikipedia pages, particularly the section headings and links provided. Similarly, you will become familiar with DMOZ pages, which utilize a directory pathway. In addition, these pages offer links to DMOZ that invite you to “submit a site” or “become an editor”.
You can do a ‘site:’ search to look for URL formatting that suggests that a template was used. For example, if the questionable URL is www.might-be-spam.com, you would type “site: http://might-be-spam.com” in the search box to see how many times it appears.
You can look for suspicious “computer-manufactured” grammar. Example of Wikipedia scraped content with ads: http://www.dgun.org/en/Estonia Exceptions (Scraped Content that is not Spam) Lyrics, poems, ringtones (that the user programs rather than downloads), quotes, and proverbs have no central authority. When you see pages with this content, you cannot judge it to have been copied, and the pages should not be assigned a Spam label.
Unfortunately, some content is written specifically for Spam pages and you will not find it on another source. Although you may be convinced that the intent is to deceive, if the content makes sense and appears original, you will not be able to label such pages Spam.
Sometimes the viewing area contains nothing but ads, but there may be scraped content positioned well “below the fold” – on the lower portion of the web page that the user wouldn’t see without scrolling down.
The important thing to remember is that if the scraped (copied) content on the page is removed and all that remains is ads, it is Spam.
2. Parked Domains A domain name, whose renewal date has passed but which has not yet been dropped from the DNS (domain name system), may be purchased by new owners.
Spammers sometimes buy these domains and put their own content on the site. The sites are referred to as parked or expired domains, and their value is in their pre-existing links. Pages that previously linked to the expired domain will now link to the spammer’s page. A typical parked/expired domain may include:
• A list of sponsored links.
• A list of popular categories.
• A list of related categories. All of the links are paid links. There is no original content on the page. Recognizing Parked/Expired domains Look for a domain name (URL) that has nothing to do with the content on the web page. Check http://www.waybackmachine.org to see the site as it looked previously. Before long, you will become familiar with the layout of parked/expired domains. Example of a parked domain: http://www.dasonet.com/todahfzkdk.htm
3. Thin Affiliates A thin affiliate is a page that exists to deliver a visitor to a page on another domain with a different owner. Keywords deliver visitors to the affiliate page, and links on the affiliate page deliver visitors to the second page, which is owned by a real merchant.
This is a revenue-sharing situation in which the thin affiliate is paid a commission by the real merchant for any activity generated on the merchant’s site. Usually the activity will be a sales transaction, such as a product purchase or a hotel booking.
The thin affiliate site contains text and perhaps images copied from the merchant site. It offers no (or very little) value-added service while earning its commission. The thin affiliate may also earn PPC revenue by providing PPC links on its page.
Recognizing thin affiliates Clicking on a “More Information” or “Make a Purchase” button takes you to a merchant on a different domain. Right-clicking on an image on the page with your mouse and looking at “Properties” shows you that the image has a different URL than the URL of the page. This indicates that the image originates from the other merchant’s site. Example of a thin affiliate: http://findmeatune.com/artist-Pink This is an Amazon thin affiliate. Looking at the properties of the images on the page reveals that they originate from amazon.com.
There is no value added (e.g. reviews, price comparison) on the page, and the value of the page is only in the link to the merchant’s site. You cannot complete a transaction from the thin affiliate’s site. Many large web retailers offer affiliate programs.
Some of the most he most common examples are Amazon, eBay, Zappos, and Overstock. Recognizing true merchants Features that will help you determine if a website is a true merchant include: a “view your shopping cart” link that stays on the same site and updates when you add items to it, a return policy with a physical address, a shipping charge calculator, a “wish list” link, or a link to postpone purchase of an item until later, a way to track FedEx orders, a user forum, the ability to register or login, a gift registry, or an invitation to become an affiliate of that site Please note the following: Not all of the above need to be present for a merchant to be considered a true merchant. Yahoo! Stores are true merchants – they are not thin affiliates.
Some true merchants will take you to another site to complete the transaction due to the fact that they utilize third party cart systems. Such merchants are not thin affiliates.
Not all affiliates are thin If a page offers some value in addition to its links to the merchant, then it is not a thin affiliate. For example, if the affiliate offers price comparison functionality, or displays product reviews, recipes, lyrics, etc., it is not a thin affiliate, and, therefore, not Spam. Some companies that offer price comparisons or other helpful shopping features in addition to the affiliate link are: http://www.shopping.com http://www.pricegrabber.com http://www.kelkoo.co.uk
4. Hidden Text and Hidden Links Webmasters add hidden text to lure users to their pages. The hidden text is visible to the search engine robot, but not to the user, who might find it distracting or distasteful. The text may be completely invisible to the human eye. The text may be in a very close color to the background on the page so that it is almost invisible and won’t be noticed by the human eye. The text may be formatted in a very, very small font size (e.g., 1-point) so that it won’t be noticed by the human eye.
The text may be placed outside the normal viewing area. For example, the webmaster may place a large blank space between the normal viewing area and a “hidden” area all the way at the bottom of the page or far to the right. Please note that hidden text is not considered to be Spam if there is no intention to trick the search engine. For example, if the webmaster “hides” the date of an update or copyright information either completely or in a very small font size, that would not be considered Spam.
Recognizing hidden text and hidden links Apply Ctrl-A (the keyboard shortcut for Select All) to the page and then scroll through it. This technique may expose text or links that are hidden from the human eye. Examples of hidden text: http://www.bigraf.it/ http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~cozmo/ With both of these examples, you should apply Ctrl-A to the page and scroll down on the page. Be suspicious of large blank areas on the bottom or far right portion of the page, and use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to see if there is text on the portion of the page outside the main viewing area.
View the source code to see if text exists that is hidden from the user: If you are using Internet Explorer: If you are using Firefox: 1. Go to “View”. 1. Go to “View”. 2. Click on “Source”. 2. Click on “Page Source”. Spammers commonly employ features of JavaScript to hide text.
To disable JavaScript so that you are able to see the hidden text, follow these steps: If you are using Internet Explorer: If you are using Firefox: 1. Go to “Tools”. 2. Click on “Internet Options”. 2. Click on “Options”. 3. Click the “Security” tab. 3. Click on “Content” or “Web Features”. 4. Click on “Custom level”. 4. To disable JavaScript, make sure the 5. Scroll down to the “Scripting” section. To “Enable” box is not checked. disable JavaScript, make sure “Disable” is 5. Click “OK”. selected under “Active scripting”. 6. Click “OK”. After disabling JavaScript, view both the live and cached versions of the page, because sometimes the hidden text will only be revealed on one page or the other.
Spammers may also use JavaScript to create two versions of their content: one to be viewed and ranked by the search engine, the other to be seen by the user. You can also use the steps outlined above to view the different pages. Minute text is not always exposed using Ctrl-A. Be suspicious of horizontal lines or bars on the page. Sometimes they contain hidden text. Use the techniques above to check for it. Some webmasters employ CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to transform text into minute size or to hide it. Such ploys are not easy to spot, and identifying them by disabling this feature is an advanced technique and is totally optional.
5. JavaScript Redirects As you have seen above, webmasters sometimes use JavaScript features to hide text. They may also use it to create two versions of their content: one to be viewed and ranked by the search engine, the other to be seen by the user. Recognizing JavaScript Redirects If you suspect that a page is Spam and the cached page is available, you should compare it to the live version.
A significant difference between the two can be a spam signal. You can also use the steps outlined above to view the different pages. You should observe both the live and the cached pages with JavaScript disabled.
6. Keyword stuffing Webmasters sometimes load pages with excessive keywords that are related to the content on the page to draw search engine robots to their web pages. These will appear in the form of word repeats, related words, and misspellings.
Webmasters also sometimes load pages with irrelevant (off-topic) keywords (pertaining to topics such as mortgage, cell-phones, gambling, weather…) that are unrelated to the content on the page. Again, the intent is to increase traffic to their web pages. Recognizing keyword stuffing Keyword stuffing can be found anywhere on the web page.
In some cases, the keyword stuffing is visible to the human eye, and you will not have to use any special tools to see it. In other cases, it is used in connection with hidden text, in other words, the text that is hidden contains keyword stuffing.
When this is the case, you will use the techniques described above to uncover it. Examples of hidden text/keyword stuffing/different page uncovered by disabling javascript:http://equal.smilebo.net/1310nm-is-equal-too.html/ http://skipper.aalimprincess.com/skipper-key.html Keyword stuffing in the URL.
URLs may also contain keyword stuffing. They are usually created by some type of template and are stuffed with terms that come from the query. They are often formatted with many hyphens (dashes) in them. Example of keyword stuffing in the URL: http://apply-bankruptcy-card-credit.luciddomains.com/index.html These templated URLs are computer-generated based on the query and are a strong spam signal. If you look at the text on this page, you will see that it is does not make sense.
7. Sneaky redirects A sneaky redirect takes place when a page redirects the user to a different URL on a different domain. While being redirected, you might observe the page being redirected through several URLs before ending up on the landing page. Search engines index and score the content on the first domain, yet the user is redirected to a different domain. Again, the webmaster is presenting different content to the search engine robot and the user.
One URL may sneakily redirect to a number of rotating domains, so clicking on the same result several times may land you on different pages, which may or may not look the same. Sometimes, if you enter one of these domains into the search engine as a query, you will be taken to Amazon, eBay, or other merchants. Recognizing when redirects are sneaky or non-sneaky Compare the two URLs to see if it makes sense that one would redirect to the other. For example, a redirect from the old homepage for a company to its new domain is not sneaky. For example, www.compaq.com redirects to http://h18000.www1.hp.com/ in a legitimate manner. Also, redirects within the same domain are not sneaky.
If you suspect a Sneaky Redirect has taken place, you should check “who is” the registrant (or owner) of the two domains. If the registrant is the same, the redirect is not sneaky.
1. Go to the site of a “whois” provider to find out “who is” the domain registrant. Here are two you can use: http://www.domaintools.com/ or http://whois.mtgsy.net/default.php.
2. Enter the URL of each domain in the search box. (Sometimes, you will need to delete some leading or following characters. For example, if the URL is http://supportapj.dell.com/support/, you will enter just “dell.com” in the search box. 3. Compare the domain registrants for each URL. If you find that the two URLs have the same domain registrant, you will conclude that the page is not Spam. If they are different, it is probably Spam. Example of a Sneaky Redirect: http://www.kqzyfj.com/go65biroiq57A8E7A6577BDAA6 redirects to http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/StoreCatalogDisplay/c-10101/s-10101/TID- 101?AID=1157440&PID=1428140 Using a whois provider, you will see that the domain registrant for the first URL is Commission Junction, while the domain registrant for the second URL is J.C. Whitney & Company. Please note that “whois” may also be used when trying to determine if a page is a thin affiliate.
The key to all this is “added value”. You must give added value to your readers, by providing valuable information, fresh contents etc…
We all know that Google like you to provide addresses, phone numbers in the contact information. This is “added value” for your readers/customers.
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Written by Bruce Cat on February 14, 2008 – 12:43 pm
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