| Google is engaged in a war. It is a war on spam. With | | | | is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause, |
| new strategies and filters ready to put into place, the | | | | such as a doctrine in a war." It's ironic that Google |
| search engine is adding new firepower to its arsenal | | | | used this word when it defined Internet Spam.Google |
| almost daily. Webmasters and SEO Consultants alike | | | | trademarked the term "TrustRank" and is working on |
| are terrified; fearing what the future holds for them. But | | | | a new spam removing model that they explain in what |
| for those of us that believe in the cause, the future isn't | | | | forum posters are referring to as the Stanford White |
| scary. In fact, the future looks very bright.My ten year | | | | Paper. "Web spam pages use various techniques to |
| old son is fascinated with war. He has a dozen | | | | achieve higher-than-deserved rankings in a search |
| buckets full of army men, and makes everything a | | | | engine's results. While human experts can identify |
| battlefield-the kitchen, my bedroom, and even the | | | | spam, it is too expensive to manually evaluate a large |
| bathroom. He has a new bicycle helmet that's army | | | | number of pages. Instead, we propose techniques to |
| green. For Halloween, when other kids were | | | | semi-automatically separate reputable, good pages |
| Spiderman and Batman, he was a soldier. He | | | | from spam. We first select a small set of seed pages |
| constantly plays computer games like Soldiers of | | | | to be evaluated by an expert. Once we manually |
| WWII and Battlefield 1942; he even turns brooms and | | | | identify the reputable seed pages, we use the link |
| mops into weapons to combat the invisible enemy. | | | | structure of the web to discover other pages that are |
| War is all he talks about. He loves movies like Saving | | | | likely to be good. In this paper we discuss possible |
| Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, and Platoon. He knows | | | | ways to implement the seed selection and the |
| more about both World Wars and Vietnam then I'll | | | | discovery of good pages. We present results of |
| ever hope to, or care to, know. His obsession with war | | | | experiments run on the World Wide Web indexed by |
| got me thinking about how it applied to what I do every | | | | AltaVista and evaluate the performance of our |
| day. What does SEO and war have in common? | | | | techniques. Our results show that we can effectively |
| More to the point, how does Google implement | | | | filter out spam from a significant fraction of the web, |
| strategies that declare war on spam?SEO is a | | | | based on a good seed set of less than 200 sites." This |
| constant struggle to get our clients' websites to the | | | | comes from a 12 page abstract, called "Combating |
| top. We combat lousy SEO companies that give us a | | | | Spam with TrustRank", on Stanford University's |
| bad name, flagrant ads that claim they can do what | | | | website that outlines the methodology of TrustRank.In |
| we do for only $29 by submitting your site to a | | | | summary, TrustRank is a way to cut down on spam |
| thousand search engines, and other little annoyances | | | | and filter out content that is not relevant to the |
| that pop up every day. Even still, my small battles are | | | | searcher in order to bring them results they really |
| really nothing when you compare it to the war that | | | | want, by branding good sites with a high trust rating, |
| Google is waging. Google's number one goal is to bring | | | | and by stamping the spam sites as untrustworthy, |
| the visitor the most relevant results possible in a | | | | including any site that links to these delineated sites. |
| search engine. This means filtering and sorting through | | | | Google's abstract says, "Human editors help search |
| all the junk out there, so that you, the visitor, doesn't | | | | engines combat search engine spam, but reviewing all |
| have to."It's an arms race," Steve Linford, director of | | | | content is impractical. TrustRank places a core vote of |
| the London-based SpamHaus Project, said. "The more | | | | trust on a seed set of reviewed sites to help search |
| we lock (spammers) down, the more techniques they | | | | engines identify pages that would be considered useful |
| try to get around us." The SpamHaus Project is a | | | | from pages that would be considered spam. This trust |
| nonprofit organization that posts information about the | | | | is attenuated to other sites through links from the seed |
| groups behind the majority of unsolicited e-mail, and | | | | sites." Google's famous PageRank seems to have lost |
| maintains a "black hole" list of domains from which | | | | meaning, as sites are easily able to produce back links |
| spammers operate. Spam accounted for at least one | | | | or purchase them, which defeats the purpose of |
| in four email messages a business received in 2002. | | | | PageRank. In my opinion, TrustRank makes more |
| The U.S. Attorney General's website has an entire | | | | sense. It makes a webmaster more careful with |
| page on the subject. "Almost 45 percent of all email is | | | | whom he or she links to in the first place, making back |
| now spam and that number is growing each year. | | | | links harder to get, but well worth the reward once |
| Nearly three trillion spam messages are sent each | | | | they are earned.Another way Google is fighting |
| year - 13 times the total snail mail delivered by the U.S. | | | | Internet spam is called the "Sandbox Effect". The |
| Postal service. The average wired American is hit with | | | | Sandbox Effect is essentially a delay of a few months |
| nearly 2,200 spam messages annually - this after most | | | | once a site is spidered before it is indexed. Sometimes, |
| ISPs have filtered 80-90 percent of the junk | | | | a new site may initially receive a high ranking in the |
| messages. Some reports indicate that these numbers | | | | search engines, and then drop into search engine |
| could increase by five times in the near future."Market | | | | obscurity. They may receive no page rank, and can be |
| research firm, Gartner Inc., estimates that their | | | | virtually invisible in the search engines for up to 120 |
| company of over 10,000 employees suffers more than | | | | days. While this may seem like a penalty to new |
| $13 million worth of lost productivity because of | | | | website owners, especially if they are unaware of the |
| internally generated spam. This is just email spam. | | | | new filters or how they work and why, it is Google's |
| Throw in the spam on the internet, and it's a huge | | | | way of fighting spam. Their methodology is that in the |
| productivity drain. It causes companies financial losses | | | | "sandbox" (named such for the analogy of a bunch of |
| because they have to purchase more high tech | | | | new kids playing in the sandbox together away from |
| software like spam blockers and spy-ware removers, | | | | the grownups), spammers won't see the results of |
| and it's a strain on system servers and | | | | their efforts in the search engine, and may possibly be |
| bandwidth.Google defines Internet Spam as any | | | | fooled into thinking they've either been caught, or their |
| unwanted information or propaganda that may have | | | | efforts have been futile. Google hopes the spammers |
| been received through deceptive measures on the | | | | will then simply give up and go away. In war, we call |
| part of the sender. To a search engine, spam is | | | | this technique flanking, hoping to catch the enemy off |
| hyperlinked pages that are intent on misleading the | | | | guard by coming around behind their line, causing them |
| search engine. It is estimated that 80% of search | | | | to panic or withdraw. The desired result of the |
| results for any keyword phrases entered into a search | | | | Sandbox Effect is that the spammers most likely will |
| engine are considered spam.During World War II, the | | | | do both: panic and withdraw; or better yet, surrender. |
| term propaganda earned the negative connotation | | | | Flanking is one of the most effective plan of attack, |
| because of intended deceptions used to dispirit those | | | | and the most difficult to achieve, as it requires finesse, |
| on the front lines by Nazi Germany. Soldiers and | | | | secrecy, and being able to know your enemy's moves |
| citizens were constantly bombarded with this new | | | | before they do.As in any war, it can be long, bloody, |
| psychological weapon. Most propaganda in Germany | | | | and both sides can sustain heavy casualties. While |
| was produced by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment | | | | spammers are filtered out, some legitimate websites |
| and Propaganda, or PROMI. Joseph Goebbels was | | | | can be annihilated as well, due to inadequate SEO, |
| placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Adolf | | | | mistakes in their pages (like broken links), or just simple |
| Hitler took power in 1933. Hitler was impressed by the | | | | ignorance to the way search engines work. It is the |
| power of Allied propaganda during World War I and | | | | responsibility of your five-star General to guide you |
| believed that it had been a primary cause of the | | | | and develop your strategy. Your SEO consultant can |
| collapse of morale and revolts in the German home | | | | lead you through the minefield of search engine |
| front and Navy in 1918. Nazis had no moral qualms | | | | optimization techniques without triggering any of the |
| about spreading propaganda which they themselves | | | | mines, and keeping you safe. If you inadvertently set |
| knew to the false and indeed spreading deliberately | | | | off a mine, you lose your hard earned ranking, the |
| false information was part of a doctrine known as the | | | | traffic that goes with it, and the resulting sales from |
| "Big Lie", the theory he wrote about in his book, Mein | | | | that traffic. You will then fall into the multitudes of spam |
| Kampf. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that people came | | | | casualties; possibly earning a Google ban forever. Will |
| to believe that Germany was defeated in the First | | | | the casual observer see these casualties? No. On the |
| World War in the field due to a propaganda technique | | | | surface, everything feels peaceful. In fact, the war only |
| used by Jews who were influential in the German | | | | helps the average citizens and their relevant search |
| press."British and Allied fliers were depicted as | | | | results, and in the end, brings a better search |
| cowardly murderers and Americans in particular as | | | | environment for all. This is, after all, what Google really |
| gangsters in the style of Al Capone. At the same time, | | | | wants. Peace.Jennifer E. Sullivan is an Internet Business |
| German propaganda sought to alienate Americans | | | | Consultant who specializes in search engine |
| and British from each other, and both these Western | | | | optimization and web marketing. Her emphasis is on |
| belligerents from the Soviets." --World War 2 | | | | small to medium business marketing. She has written |
| Propaganda ( The propaganda was effective to a | | | | several web marketing articles, including "Hiring an SEO |
| degree; however, it was repudiated by the Allied | | | | Consultant: 10 Reasons Why You Should", "Let's Not |
| Powers' own positive and truthful doctrine.Now, the | | | | Forget About the Little Guy", and "PageRank for |
| term propaganda has come to mean, "information that | | | | Websites: Is There More To the Web?". |