I Bet You’re a Spammer! How To Define Today’s Spam

Category Off Site | 10 comments »

I’ve gotten into a number of interesting conversations lately about what exactly is spam, and interestingly, it depends on who you’re talking to. Well, except when we’re talking about Monty Python, but that’s a whole different subject.

According to Wikipedia

Well, I don’t normally use Wikipedia, but considering it’s made by users, I thought it would be a good start. They say:

“Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.”

Hmmm…well, that isn’t exactly accurate is it? NetaOnline defines spam (RTF) as:

“Spam is unsolicited e-mail on the Internet. From the sender’s point-of-view, it’s a form of bulk mail, often to a list culled from subscribers to a Usenet discussion group or obtained by companies that specialize in creating e-mail distribution lists”

Well, they’re not much help are they? I mean, spam has grown to become way more than just email, and what do they mean by unsolicited anyway? I mean, if I search for a term and get a bunch of spam in the results, I *technically* am asking for it. And if I sign up for a newsletter, am I *really* asking for all of them or just some of them? What about the company Christmas message? When I signed up, I didn’t say I want X of newsletters and the company Christmas drivel!

Peak10 says unsolicited means:

“Sent to a person who has not specifically requested to receive communications from the sender and with whom the sender does not have a prior business or personal relationship, or to a person who has previously requested not to receive communications from the sender (ie, has opted out).”

Well, we often interact with new people and businesses all the time, and I’d like to think that’s a good thing.

Spammers are EVERYWHERE!

We all complain about it. We all hate it. We all find it a huge pain in the butt. But, there’s a lot more people out there spamming than you think. This doesn’t mean they all spam in the same manner or using the same tactics, but many of them do it in one way or another. It could be spamming Twitter, dropping links everywhere, hitting the SERPs, or blogs.

So, in short, while it annoys the heck out of everyone, we still use it! One person who works online stated they made more spamming than they did fighting it. That’s definitely telling us something!

(Credit)

Why Spammers Spam

Plain and simple: It works. People still click on the links, they still buy through it, and it still generates links and keeps sites at the top of the SERPs. Sucks doesn’t it? It’s no industry secret either. Heck, even Matt Cutts and the Spam Team know who sees the spam and who puts it there.

So, my question is this: if it’s working, people are buying through it, and Web peeps are still using it to market their sites, is it really spam?

In all honesty, as much as I hate fighting it off, I think too many of us have become overly familiar with the virtual world around us. Spam bothers us more because we’re dealing with it all day long whereas regular users see it no differently than any other advertisement out there.

Does this mean everyone should spam or that I’m recommending it as a marketing method? Absolutely not. Should we stop fighting it? Don’t be absurd. That would cause pure and utter chaos, but the current situation definitely makes me look at the current web a little differently.

I truly believe that, unless Google and the other SEs change their algos to something that’s content based rather than link based, we’ll continue to see the world of spam thrive and website owners continue to fill their pockets with the rewards.

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The Magic Google ranking machine

Category General, Google | 17 comments »

a.k.a – Do your ears hang low

I received and email this morning that is just too good to pass up – pass up talking about that is. I don’t know about you, but I am forever getting emails offering to ‘rank my site in Google’; which is funny because they come in on my SEO Blog and SEO Company email addresses, ( instant DUH Magazine subscription there) … One has to imagine they are blind spamming since who in their right minds would try and sell ME search optimization services, right?

But for the sake of ensuring that you, my fine readers, are educated… I figured we’d have a look. Here’s the email;

“Is your Site Optimized with the Google latest methodology called LSI to Rank High??? Does your Site Rank Low??? Do you have less traffic on your site??? An end to all these question. We provide a complete solution for your Online Business need. We bring Traffic to Your Site and rank You Top with our LSI based Google’s Algorithm at affordable rates Our Steps and the Activities to Rank You Smart Keywords Research – Competition Analysis – LSI Check – Optimized Content Creation – Keywords Optimization – Back Link Creation/Link Building – Submission to Search Engines and Directories – Submission to Article Directories Please reply for the best quote for your website link and we will guarantee to Rank You 1st to 10th position in Google ranking.”

Beyond the horrid grammar and sales copy, the thing that jumped out madly at me was the bit about “Google latest methodology called LSI”. My friends, if you EVER get emails from SEOs using this little catch phrase… you know you’re in the wrong place. Actually if you’re considering hiring an SEO, ask them about LSI…. If they in any way infer that it is part of the Google process…. BAM… file them away.

You see, this is what I call the LSI Bandwagon effect (read that post for more). While search engine obviously use semantic technologies, there is no evidence Google is using that one and SEOs that state otherwise are doing nothing more than mythology regurgitation.

For more – Dr. E. Garcia – SVD and LSI Tutorial 5: LSI Keyword Research and Co-Occurrence Theory – SEO’s and their exhaustive search myths

Submit this!!

Another golden turd that I hate seeing offered by any search optimizer service “Submission to Search Engines and Directories” – while I am still mildly partial to using directory submissions, (quality over quantity, right?) the whole submit to search engines is bad ju ju.

Sure, it’s great for noob webmasters when they first come on the scene, but considering that indexation is greatly reliant on links, the link building portion of the program will naturally take care of this. While it cannot hurt to submit to search engines, it will not ensure any meaningful rankings.. so professional SEOs should not be offering this service.

All of this made me think of a tune…

(Sung to; Do your ears hang low…you know “Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow?”)

Oh Does your Site Rank Low??? Got no traffic on your site???
Do you want it right now? We can get it over-night….

We can make the magic happen with our latest Google weapon
Oh does your site… does your site…rank…low

Look before you leap

And so my friends please do be careful out there. What if they had a slick presentation, more polished and refined? How would one know? You ultimately need to learn the essentials of SEO to even hire one. Back in the 80’s there were far more complaints about home renovators than there is today. Why is that? In no small measure the explosion of home renovation television shows and home videos quickly delivered a higher level of education to home owners than ever before.

This is turn help to weed out the less than reputable contractors as they had a hard time even finding work.

In this way, business owners need to learn at least the fundamentals of SEO before trying to hire one. While there are many articles out there on what to ask and how to go about hiring an SEO, knowledge building is perhaps the best place to start.

Until next time… play safe….

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