Serp tracking - legal?
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Isn't this scraping Google results on a massive scale? Is this legal at all?
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Well Google collects our data, why should you not collect theirs.
Put a button on your web site but dont make it easy to find, add some small print including your terms of use, and a disclamer that if search engines dont want their data scapped they can opt out by pressing the button, make them fill out a few forms, verify themsefls, make them wait 4 weeks then send them a no-reply email that does not address their concerns properly, so they have to go thought it all again.
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You can get permission from Google, in which case it would not be illegal. ...But they don't just give permission away freely.
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It's against the Google TOS. Source
That being said, there are many offenders. I'm not sure if Google lets any of the big marketing companies do it, or even give them API access in some shape or form, but I know for the smaller guys that it's frowned upon.
To my knowledge there has not been a case of Google pursuing action against someone who has scraped search results.
Scraping Google requires a proxy network because they do indeed block requests that appear like scraping bots. There are temporary bans and captcha tests put in place, but switching out an IP address works just fine until the test no longer appears.
When it comes down to it: no, not legal, but you also probably won't get in trouble for it.
(Would love to hear from official SEOmoz staff on this one...)
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