Low quality websites with spammy EMDs still ranking higher than genuine websites?
-
Hey guys,
I've just been doing some searching and couldn't quite contemplate how heavily low-quality and spammy EMDs are still running some Google searches.
Just take "cheap kitchens", for instance.
Here are a list of URLs that appeared;
http://kitchenunitsdoors.co.uk/
http://www.kitchenunits9.co.uk/
http://www.aboutkitchenunits.co.uk/
http://www.cheapkitchenunits1.co.uk/
http://www.cheapkitchensonline.com/
http://www.buycheapkitchens.com/
http://www.cheapkitchenscheapkitchen.co.uk/
http://www.cheapkitchensforsale1.co.uk/
http://cheapkitchensaberdeen.co.uk/
http://www.kitchensderby1.co.uk/
http://www.cheapcheapkitchens.co.uk/
http://www.cheapestkitchensinbritain.co.uk/
http://www.cheapkitchenss.co.uk/
http://www.cheaperthanmfi.com/
As you can see, none of them appear to be genuine retailers and are setup purely to influence Google rankings. I'm amazed that Google is still giving so much weight to these types of sites - especially considering how search is meant to be better than it ever was before!
Any insights into why this is?
-
Backed by quite a bit of real-life experience on EGOL's part.
-
Hi Matthew,
If there are so many problems and so obvious, why don't you submit a report to Google. They clearly state this in their quality guidelines for webmasters:
If you believe that another site is abusing Google's quality guidelines, please let us know by filing a spam report. Google prefers developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize hand-to-hand spam fighting. While we may not take manual action in response to every report, spam reports are prioritized based on user impact, and in some cases may lead to complete removal of a spammy site from Google's search results. Not all manual actions result in removal, however. Even in cases where we take action on a reported site, the effects of these actions may not be obvious.
More details here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769
Why not do it? You got nothing to loose!
-
No offence but that is a proper generic answer.
-
From what I have seen, these types of website are only successful when competition is really easy. So working to boost the strength of your site will usually get you above these bottom fishers.
-
I agree matthew, but the intention with these sites is not just to rank for that one keyword.
Many black hats will bombard them with 100's if not 1000's of backlinks with varied anchor texts covering all the long tail words \ phrases which helps rank those sites for a whole range of things.
In fact there are tools out there that will find all the longtails, and even though adwords may show zero search volume, collectively they will bring in alot of long tail traffic that no-one has optimised for.
-
No, I definitely wouldn't say that. If I wanted a kitchen and I wanted it cheap then I'd say there's a good chance I'd be searching "cheap kitchens".
-
It's as though Google's saying "Let's leave the low quality queries to be filled by the low quality sites." I mean really... the only people who take a search like that seriously are the marketers who are trying to get their sites to rank for them-- people actually looking for kitchen remodeling contractors are searching with other terms. Wouldn't you say?
-
Just found this...
-
After a bit of research I've discovered that all but four of those domains are owned by the same person.
Incredible.
-
Yep, no. 1 in one of my niche is a one page EMD with 7000 backlinks (low quality comment spam), of which 98% are nofollow.
Its stupid.
-
I see the same pattern in Google. Are these sites scraping RSS feeds and publishing another person's content?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to find Spam Website?
Hi guys, I'm seo newbie and really want to find websites that hurt seo ranking to avoid get link. Which tools or trick can help me to find those site?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | denakalami0 -
Curious, have you ever had a client dispute your Moz Ranking Report?
one of my international clients from China does not believe that his site is now on page #2 for a national search term. He said he had a colleague search from a location in the United States and his site did not come up in any of the top 10 Google search page results. Suggest any ways to back ranking up? Maybe use an additional rank report? appreciate any/all suggestions. THanks! Chris
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Sundance_Kidd0 -
Can the disavow tool INCREASE rankings?
Hi Mozzers, I have a new client who has some bad links in their profile that are spammy and should be disavowed. They rank on the first page for some longer tail keywords. However, we're aiming at shorter, well-known keywords where they aren't ranking. Will the disavow tool, alone, have the ability to increase rankings (assuming on-site / off-site signals are better than competition)? Thanks, Cole
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | ColeLusby0 -
Competitor ranking well with duplicate content—what are my options?
A competitor is ranking #1 and #3 for a search term (see attached) by publishing two separate sites with the same content. They've modified the title of the page, and serve it in a different design, but are using their branded domain and a keyword-rich domain to gain multiple rankings. This has been going on for years, and I've always told myself that Google would eventually catch it with an algorithm update, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Does anyone know of other options? It doesn't seem like this falls under any of the categories that Google lists on their web spam report page—is there any other way to get bring this up with the powers that be, or is it something that I just have to live with and hope that Google figures out some day? Any advice would help. Thanks! how_to_become_a_home_inspector_-_Google_Search_2015-01-15_18-45-06.jpg
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | inxilpro0 -
Website rankings plummeted after a negative SEO attack - help!
Hello Mozzers A website of a new client (http://bit.ly/PuVNTp) use to rank very well. It was on the top page for any relevant search terms in its industry in Southern Ontario (Canada). Late last year, the client was the victim of a negative SEO attack. Thousands upon thousands of spammy backlinks were built (suspected to be bought using something like Fiverr). The links came from very questionable sites or just low quality sites. The backlink growth window was very small (2,000 every 24 hours or so). Since that happened that site has all but disappeared from search results. It is still indexed and the owner has disavowed most of the bad backlinks but the site can't seem to bounce back. The same happened for another site that they own (http://bit.ly/1tErxpu) except the number backlinks produced was even higher. The sites both suffer from duplicate content issues and at one point (in 2012) were de-indexed due to the very spammy work of a former SEO. They came back in early 2013 and were fine for some time. Thoughts?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | mattylac0 -
Website not listing in google - screaming frog shows 500 error? What could the issue be?
Hey, http://www.interconnect.org.uk/ - the site seems to load fine, but for some reason the site is not getting indexed. I tried running the site on screaming frog, and it gives a 500 error code, which suggests it can't access the site? I'm guessing this is the same problem google is having, do you have any ideas as to why this may be and how I can rectify this? Thanks, Andrew
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Heehaw0 -
Exact Match Domains - Why are they still dominating?
Fantastic day! I am seeing exact match domains still dominating. SEOmoz has some insight: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/exact-match-domains-are-far-too-powerful-is-their-time-limited But that's from two years ago. Is Google ever going to target the manipulators that buy up all the exact match domains? One of our partners is getting the itch, and I am running out of explanations on why we don't manipulate. But if these practices are dominating their industry, what to do? I have to get paid to feed the family so just telling the client buh-bye isn't going to work. At least not in this stage of agency building. Their root domain doesn't do much for them, however, you know we well optimize those subdomains and rank those fine. But if my client can just buy an exact match domain, and it will take less SEO work to get it ranked then why not? He has the SEO expert in his back pocket to clean up the mess IF they would even get a penalty or drop in rank. Is all SEO really is find algo hole, manipulate, penalty, fix, find algo hole, manipulate, penalty, fix. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Please share your experiences and insight! Thanks, Ben
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | cyberlicious0 -
Has anyone ever reported a spammer and actually seen them de-ranked?
I have a few competitors outranking me using black hat SEO. I reported them to Google, and I'm just wondering if Google will even look at it. What has been your experience with this? Has anyone ever gotten results?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | UnderRugSwept1