How many times have you signed up to receive Google Alerts on a topic only to have your in-box filled with the most absurd and useless spam, regardless of the topic?  It happens to me all the time.  It used to be restricted to “news” related to client keyword phrases.  Initially, the alerts I had set up for variations of my own name didn’t bring back garbage results.  In fact, early on, the only alerts I got related to my name were my own tweets.  But that was before I began getting real traction in the blogosphere.

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NOTE – If you found this article anywhere BUT on the Search Marketing Wisdom blog, you found it on a SCRAPER SITE, stolen by scum.

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Scraped Content Showing Up At The Google Crack-House – A Good Thing Or a Bad Thing?

My initial gut reaction when seeing scraped content is it’s annoying at best, a true PITA at worst.  Scraped content pollutes the Interwebs, confuses the message, and unchecked, can harm reputation of individuals, companies, and web sites.  So is there anything GOOD to be said about scraped content, or for that matter, the Crack-House that gathers all the crack-heads who generate sites purely with scraped content?

Let’s take a look and find out…

When I initially read today’s alert, I didn’t know the first entry was an actual scraper site, though the name “SEO Cloak” is pretty much a giveaway.

In Our Industry, Names Can Be Deceiving

In our industry, you never know when the name of a blog is going to lead to crap, or to a really high quality destination.  The site name SEO Bullshit comes to mind here.  The first time I saw the name, I figured it was an SEO H8er site, where some jerk-wad rambles on about how SEO is dead, a scam, a real pile of crap.  But once I actually WENT there, I realized it’s just the opposite.

From there, I figured the first entry was maybe somebody who’s blog I haven’t read previously. Maybe they  jumped onto the recap bandwagon, just like one Virginia Nussey, one of the SEO hotties over at Bruce Clay writes as part of their Fun Stuff articles.  Or like David Harry’s 7 Days of Search and Social.

Not actually having had a chance yet to actually read Virginia’s latest post, I thought – cool – whoever this is,  they apparently (yeah, right) thought highly enough of my latest SEO Tech article over at SearchEngineJournal.com to include me in this week’s Friday Recap, so let’s see what they said and find out who it is…

And my initial suspicion was confirmed…  Because I’m that much of a genius.  I mean, how many people would go to a site and observe that their ABOUT info was anything but genuine, especially with content like this:

Anyhow, I quickly scrolled down to the entry about my article.

If you’re looking for some pointers for performing site audits, SEO Alan Bleiweiss has published the first part of a series that offers just that. From putting a price tag on failure to the generation of an action plan, this is hands-on SEO at its finest.

Since this was blatantly a scraper site, I just copied the opening of that sentence, and did a Google search so I could find out who REALLY thought highly enough of my article to include it in their blog. And of course, the top entry was none other than Virginia Nussey’s AUTHENTIC Friday Recap.

Tickled Pink

Even though I’ve been in the industry for a long time, I’ve only been writing on industry topics for about two and a half years now, and a mention like this is still quite rare for me.  In fact, it’s only maybe the third or perhaps fourth time this has happened.  So when I saw it there,  I was actually quite humbled.   And I immediately went up to Twitter to thank Virginia.

At the time, I thought maybe I should let her know how I learned about my article getting into the Friday Recap. But I hesitated, because I think we all know now how much scraping goes on, especially when it comes to blogs as well established as the Bruce Clay blog.  And their content probably gets scraped as much as SEJ, SEL, SEP and all the rest.

So in this case, I’m actually THANKFUL to the care-givers over at the Google Crack-House for doing such a TERRIBLE job at finding ORIGINAL sources of content to notify me about.  Because that scraper entry did, ultimately, lead me back to Virginia’s article.  Though had they shown that original content (see below on that issue) I wouldn’t have had to use my investigative nature to figure it all out…

But Wait – There’s More!

LOL – that tag line is SOOOO  As-Seen-On-TV – isn’t it?

Even More Good Things Come From The Crack-House

Anyhow, now I was curious – and actually WILLING to click on the 2nd entry in today’s alert.  That one too, led me to a rogue site.  Or it’s just a really LOUSY legitimate site.  But in any case, THAT entry actually led with a REAL link, over to a GENUINE news brief over at MediaPost, alerting their readers  with the headline “No, Google Is Not Getting Into SEO Biz“.  Which summarized the facts I touched on in my own news brief about that subject over at SEJ, and mentioned my name.  Which is REALLY awesome.

The mention, I mean.  In MediaPost.  Because my name isn’t really that awesome.  It’s a made-up name from a douchebag at Ellis Island.  But even though I considered changing my name a few years back to Alan Mitchell (my middle name), I caved into being too lazy to go through THAT hassle.  So everyone’s just going to have to struggle with pronouncing it wrong over and over.  Unless you’re actually CONSIDERATE about such things, like Tim Staines.  Who took the time to actually ask me, on Twitter, no less, how to pronounce it.

Anyhow – so like, wow – twice in one week.  Lightening Struck Twice.  Holy Cannoli!  Good lightening, even!

Sadly, My Ego Doesn’t Stand A Chance

A few years back, I made a pact.  With The Universe (uh – for those of you who just said – “the ‘universe’? – what is this guy, some new-age nut?”, relax.  Just swap out “universe” and drop in the word “God”.  Or “Buddha” or “Tara” or “Jehovah” or… “Doorknob” okay?)   This pact went something like this -

The pain is too great.  I can’t keep going like this anymore.  I’m at the end of my rope.  Please – help me.  I’ll do whatever it takes.  Anything.  ANYTHING! Just help me heal…

Okay so was that TMI for you?  Or did you not know I’m a recovering addict?  Because if you didn’t know by now, HELLOOOO!

(And now you know why I have the right to call the people at Google addicts.   Because even though I’m in recovery, you can’t bullshit a bullshitter, even if the bullshitter you’re trying to bullshit happens to be in recovery.)

Oh – yeah – so I made this pact with the doorknob.  – Because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of the emotional and spiritual pain, I got really willing to heal.  And that led me to finding a path that happens to include the doorknob continually doing things to humble me.  Just to keep my ego in check.

And today, that happened when I read that 3rd Alert.  – Just look at that – “SEO – net seo”  HAHAHAHA.

Douchebag headline huh?  And oh – how quaint.  It’s from the “Marketing Guru”.   HAHAHAHA.

Douchebag author huh?  Which of course, when clicking on the link, takes you to a true douchebag site, where the two line entries they have for every single headline they add, randomly take you to either a legitimate site or another scraper site.  Which means whoever edits THIS one is really stupid, or they’re really a stupid scraper themselves.

And the entry mentioning my name, well, the headline for that entry actually leads to a TOTAL SPAM SITE.  Even though it really stole the opening of my SEJ news brief – the one that was legitimately mentioned over at MediaPost.  So apparently my name isn’t worthy of a link to a real site in their view.

And that was just a reminder to me that I shouldn’t expect to see my name coming up in Google Alerts too often from real sites.  At least not yet…

But It also means that somehow, I’ve found real value in getting alerts from the Google crack-house.  Even though much of it’s just vomit being spewed by more crack-addicts.

Crack-Houses Hold Mysteries Better Left As They Are

What’s just as bizarre about all this, by the time I completed this article, a full two hours after that first alert email came in, another Google Alert had arrived.

This one was a mixed bag of a different kind altogether.  The first two entries were actually the REAL mentions coming from their original sources.

Yet sadly, the rest of the contents of this alert were another mix current and OUTDATED tweets, and one that turned out to be quite alarming…

I can’t comprehend if it’s the fault of a crack-addict at Google that came up with the logic on how to pull tweets that are so randomly outdated.  I mean, it’s not like I only tweet once every several days.  (What, you didn’t know I tweet over 100 times a day?)   Whatever the pretend-logic is though, it’s just stupid.

But the one that got my dander up the most today?  That entry above from “Kathryn Katz”.   Because when I clicked on the link for that, it took me to a site that was IMMEDIATELY redirected to the McAffee Site Advisor Alert site – something that I’ve NEVER experienced before.  Oh – sure, I’ve got the McAfee Site Advisor plug-in for Firefox, and occassionally, the bar turns red with a warning-pop-up about potential rogue downloads.  But look at this:

Wow!  So now Google Alerts is providing links to what could possibly be phishing sites.

Thanks Google.

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Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month.

Google ALerts- Finding Value In A Crack  House is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom
All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.  If you found this article anywhere BUT Search Marketing Wisdom, you found it on a SCRAPER SITE, stolen by scum.