Has anyone seen a spammy competitors website hit by the Google changes?

[NileCruises]

I wonder, after all the talk of Penguins and Pandas if anyone has seen evidence of a competitor who you know has 1000's of spammy links removed from their page one position in Google.

I have a trade competitor who appeared from nowhere about 12 months ago with 11,000+ back-links most of which were totally unrelated to our trade and appear to be link-farm links for the most part.

After reading about Google's changes I thought the site might be hit but it remains up there in the first 2 or 3 results on page one.

I wonder if anyone has seen similar sites penalised?

Colin

[wrttnwrd]

I hear ya, Colin. Drives me nuts every time I see spammers up there.

[irvingw]

Good luck - you can close a ticket by clicking on Good Answer

[NileCruises]

Thanks Ian, Irving and Ian,

I take your point about controlling what I can control and your right.

Just frustrating to watch after following Googles recommendations. But, as you say, there might be other factors.

Thanks guys.

Off now to kick the cat!

(Just joking).

Colin

[IanTheScot]

We've seen a competitor that has used spammy practices for years that no matter what continues to sit at the top of the rankings.

As Ian said, it's maddening as can be but you can't fix Google so you just have to work on improving your own site. (Still working on taking this advice)

[irvingw]

We have seen several competitors get trashed in the rankings. Spammy links does not guarantee that a site will be penalized. They may enough good quality links to counteract their spam links and there are probably several other factors taken into consideration in the Google spam penalty algorithm.

[wrttnwrd]

I've seen plenty, but I only remember the ones that keep their rankings

In all seriousness: I know it's hard, but you have to ignore competitors as far as spammy practices go. Google's far from perfect in detecting spam, even now, and their ability to rank may come from other factors. Even if it doesn't, you don't control that. It's frustrating as hell - believe me, I get it. But focus on what you do control: Your site.