Question
If I wanted to find ebay listings I would just SEARCH EBAY for crying out loud.
While I don't have anything against free advertising, it would be SO much more useful if the ebay links were CURRENT as well as RELEVANT.
Answer
From what I understand, this is the result of ebaY's affiliate program. The discussions on this board before about this topic lead me to believe this is nothing more than ebaY getting people to spam Google for them.
I personally am getting completely fed up with Google. Trying to find REAL information is becoming very frustrating because of all the key word spamming, deceptive advertising, and those phoney portal sites. Phooey.
Answer
Originally Posted by platinum
While I don't have anything against free advertising, it would be SO much more useful if the ebay links were CURRENT as well as RELEVANT.
EXACTLY! They seem to be using cached search results, so that even if you actually wanted to see items on eBay relevant to your Google search, you'd still end up frustrated and annoyed because the auction for the item that might have interested you ended 4 months ago, and the current eBay search results page is filled with random stuff that has no connection.
As far as my own searching goes, it pisses me off because it packs the Google search results with useless links, and since many use redirects that mask the fact that the end page will be an eBay page, it wastes clicks too.
As far as the general public goes, it concerns me as a seller that people are having eBay associated in ther minds with annoying search engine spamming crap like this.
Answer
Google even caches the freakin feedback comments I leave for people.
I spent a good part of today clicking-through to at least 50 nonsensical and dead ebay links.
Really F'ING annoying.
What exactly is the affiliate program .... and can it be stopped !?
Answer
Help us maintain the quality of Google results.
Trying to deceive (spam) our web crawler by means of hidden text, deceptive cloaking or doorway pages compromises the quality of our results and degrades the search experience for everyone. We think that's a bad thing.
If your Google search returns a result that you suspect is spam, please let us know using this form. We investigate each report of deceptive practices thoroughly and take appropriate action when abuse is uncovered. At minimum, we will use the data from each spam report to improve our site ranking and filtering algorithms. The result of this should be visible over time as the quality of our searches gets even better. In especially egregious cases, we will remove spammers from our index immediately, so they do not show up in search results at all. Other steps will be taken as necessary.
http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html
Answer
Google has become useless
And I really shouldn't have to police the site for them, They just made millions(billions?) of dollars on the IPO. They can pay someone else to do it. In the meantime, I'll find another search engine to use.
(Not aimed a Kathleen at all - thanks for the info)
Answer
No harm, no foul, Sandy. I understand.
They (Google) don't pay ME to spend my time turning in the offenders.
And TIME IS MONEY!
That said, if everyone just sits around and does nothing but complain (BTW, DMOZ is now being SPAMMED in the same manner and Yahoo - at times - is WORSE than Google!), then eventually ALL search engines will be nothing but an outdated eBay directory, with the spammer raking in all the dough.
If every Internet user just turned in one spammer per week .....
It's criminal.
Answer
Originally Posted by Kathleen
They (Google) don't pay ME to spend my time turning in the offenders.
And TIME IS MONEY!
That said, if everyone just sits around and does nothing but complain (BTW, DMOZ is now being SPAMMED in the same manner and Yahoo - at times - is WORSE than Google!), then eventually ALL search engines will be nothing but an outdated eBay directory, with the spammer raking in all the dough.
If every Internet user just turned in one spammer per week .....
It's criminal.
FYI, Kathleen, your site just happens to be one of the "spammers" I linked TWICE to yesterday.....all irrelevant deadends.....
Answer
Originally Posted by platinum
FYI, Kathleen, your site just happens to be one of the "spammers" I linked TWICE to yesterday.....all irrelevant deadends.....
Just curious what you mean by this?
Answer
Originally Posted by platinum
FYI, Kathleen, your site just happens to be one of the "spammers" I linked TWICE to yesterday.....all irrelevant deadends.....
Come again?
I don't mean to sound belligerent, but you'd better have some hard facts to back that statement up before you accuse me of spamming ANYONE or ANY PLACE.
Libel - A false publication, as in writing, print, signs, or pictures, that damages a person's reputation. The act of presenting such material to the public.