For all of Google’s promises that they are updating their algorithm to weed out cheaters, the cheating just seems to get worse.
The fact is “Content is NOT king”. Google doesn’t really understand quality content. It can only look for cues that the content has quality and all of those cues, thus far, can be manipulated especially if you have lots of money.
For years they looked at backlinks to suggest a site was an “authority” on a subject, but you can imagine how that strategy was manipulated. And actually backlink schemes are still alive and well.
Now Google is banking on Social Media and sharing which would be great in a world of honest people, but the fact is we live in a world of parasites and those are very easy to manipulate — even easier than backlinks.
Look at this email from a writer for The Examiner offering to share your site to 300,000 of their fans for the low low price of $10.
This shows you how easy it is to get your stuff shared on social media for a few bucks by a big site like The Examiner .
“—–Original Message—– From: [EXAMINER WRITER] Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2013 1:10 PM To:
Hi I could post this for you if you write me 250-300 words with pics (I can take up to 20) beginning with the line:
——————————————————–
“San Francisco world travelers heading for (your place) should be sure to check out….(continue with rest of your piece)
…
It CANNOT be a press release word for word and it cannot be found anywhere else on the web or my account will be deleted.
There should be no mention of the word “Our”, e.g. “Check out our local fall colors” should be “Check out the local fall colors in the region.” The mention of “our” makes it sound like a press release written by the local tourist board and that is a huge ‘no, no.’
Photos must not be larger than 512KB. I need at least 5 and up to 20 works.
The piece will remain online for as long as you want it to, even indefinitely if you want that. An editorial mention like this can increase bookings and sales and make you more money.
My fee for this is just $29 (or a press trip or a product sample), payable to [REMOVED] . For an additional fee of only $10 (recommended) I can post it out on my social media sites. This will reach over 300,00 people on Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon, Google Plus, Gather.com and Pingler.com. Total for this would be $39. Social media is a great way to get the word out – and we do all the posting for you so you don’t have to and can, instead. get back to your core business!
I am happy to accept Paypal [removed] (Paypal charges an additional $5 fee so please add that in).
Many thanks.”
Look at any A, B, and especially C, D and E list celebrity Twitter page and it is one big advertising circus.
It used to be fun to follow celebs on Twitter but now it’s just one big shameless plug after another.
Here’s an article in the UK Mirror about celebrities tweeting for money.
And here is an article in the Huffington Post. Anyone with a few bucks can have their site shared to millions of Twitter followers. And I bet Google will say but we are looking for “retweets” and consistency. Ha! Those are easy to buy too!
Look at this website paidpertweet. There are 100s of celebs you can pay to Tweet for you to their millions of followers. Or if you happen to have a lot of Twitter followers they will pay you to tweet.
“Get paid to create buzz for companies! You can set your price to Tweet website links, press releases, products promos, services, and companies and help companies gain exposure. PaidPerTweet allows you to monetize your social network accounts.”
I have seen countless non-celebrities who are obviously paid to Tweet. And these big websites like The Examiner and Wetpaint have been ramping up for Social Media for YEARS! They have extensive networks of tweeter and retweeters for hire.
In short, its a TERRIBLE idea. The big sites with bad content will get bigger and the little guys with quality content will get pushed to the bottom.
Look, the fact that there are still 100s of places advertising that they have backlinks you can purchase that are “Hummingbird, Panda and Pengin safe” means Google’s algorithm is useless in sorting out cheaters.
Look at this great offer! “Tiered Dominance”! “Safe for PageRank ‘amplification'”
Ok Google as long as their are companies advertising these schemes that are safe for “pagerank amplification” it means your algorithm sucks. It’s not like any of these places are offering to write quality content for you. They are offering to create the illusion that your site is important.
NTM, there are COUNTLESS offers online with “money back guarantees” even! They are CONFIDENT that their backlinks will pass through the Google Gods with ease. Here is just one of 1000s of offers.
The fact is as these schemes “evolve”, Google becomes even more irrelevant. Stop being naïve Google!
As I have said before you have to go by things that are hard to manipulate and I know it sounds ‘ol fashioned but you should give props to sites who have not monetized to the hilt. That’s a no-brainer. It means the site creators are likely much more invested in their content than in tricking people to click.
And you could use the scraper sites against themselves. Reward the first site to write an article. It shows creativity. And the more sites who copy the gist of said article the more it says “hey this was a good idea”. Obviously it’s hard to fake being the first to publish something.
Come on Google! Do something! We are giving up on you!
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