Maybe I should have said that spam is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Maybe I should have reworded that again to say that effective spamming is quickly becoming a thing of the past. I think you are going to see a massive shift in the way that internet marketers conduct their business. This all has to do with the fact that the search engines (Google in particular) are getting much better at filtering out spam.
I think you would have to agree. I remember when the Adsense websites became all the rage and everyone was building MFA sites like they were going out of style. MFA sites were all the rage. I am talking about nearly ten years ago. I can’t remember the year, but it was quite a while back. Back then, I wasn’t into this kind of MMO tactic. I was working a traditional job that gave me a lot of exposure to the internet. But, it wasn’t anything to do with marketing or making money online. So, I noticed these Adsense sites as kind of an outsider.
I was so disturbed by the rapid rise in spam sites that I predicted it would be the end of Google. I was convinced that people would abandon Google as a search tool because so many of the results were spam website created just to trick you into clicking on a paid link. Well, fortunately for the people at Google, they realized how detrimental this was to their product. Had they not addressed this problem, you can bet your butt that Yahoo or MSN would have taken the lead spot away.
But, some really smart people at Google noticed the massive rise in spam and instantly started implementing measures against it. I think spam has been losing its efficacy ever since then. I can only imagine how much crazy money those internet marketers made before Google started their war against them. I know that I personally clicked on numerous advertisements by accident mostly and I was completely pissed every time I did it.
Since then, Google has launched its own version of Sherman’s march to the Sea from the American civil war era. Google is on a slash and burn mission (shock and awe) to destroy spam sites, cut of their supply lines (links) and burn their cities to the ground (remove them from the Google index). Hope you like the analogy. I thought it was really cool. I for one am actually glad they are doing it.
I do make money from internet marketing and yes, Google’s wrath upon spam sites has made it more difficult to link build. But, it has forced me to rethink my business and make sure that I am building sites of value that last. It is far more rewarding to build sites that you feel good about owning instead of just banging out countless sites that you know people are pissed that they landed on. If you take the time to learn how to link build the right way, you will be better off for it. Yes, it requires a lot more effort on your part. Your only consolation is knowing that 9 out of 10 internet marketers are too damn lazy to actually do the amount of work required to earn a link that is popular and trusted. They are simply way too lazy. That opens up the opportunity for someone like me to more easily take over niches that I really want to own. Those spammers have no chance in the long run.
It seems as time goes on, I am finding that Google has really figured a lot of this stuff out. They really can identify bullshit links. Even links that aren’t total bullshit like my EzineArticles.com links aren’t worth what they used to be. Google is telling everyone that you cannot just buy your way to the top of the SERPs by hiring a cheap labor crew from Asia to pound out poorly written bullshit. They are getting way more sophisticated and I see no signs of that trend reversing.
I have been noticing that the quality of Google’s search results is on the rise. There are some niches (like the computer support arena) that are still overrun with MFA sites. But most niches, even that one, are better than they were a few years ago. Bloggers and web designers are forced to actually focus on people. They are slowly being forced to up their level of quality if they are to survive. The life support for spam is being cut off. I can hear them choking. (gluh……..gluh…….gu…….gu…….g…………………………….)
Related posts:
Well i still see many autoblog in serp and they are really just spam.
Of course Google will continue to fight but it’s not an easy battle.
The spammers are relentless, so Google definitely has their work cut out for them. I agree with you that Google search results are much more improved then what they used to be.
Google really needs to improve on their search engine because others are catching up. Another search engine is about to be launched and its claiming what others have claimed (and failed) that it will overrun Google. At least today we can see more sensible posts, even with comments.
Though there are specific tools to fight off spam, spammers will always find a way around it. For me, manual moderation is still the best way to get rid of useless messages and comments.
Thanks for the post Kathy!
Jeps,
You should submit a reinclusion request to Akismet as your comment automatically went to my spam folder. That means someone has previously tagged you as a spammer. You left a decent comment for me. So, I dug you out of there. If you are wondering why your comments are not getting approved very often, that is probably why.