Making Search Better, One Spam Result at at Time
We’ve all seen them, search results that have nothing to do with the terms we typed in. Sometimes they are the TOP results and outnumber legitimate results. Simple keyword-rich search engine bait to pull traffic, ANY traffic, to a site. Other times its domain names that have fallen to the way side and been bought up by “link farms” (I, personally, have seen “Blond Student With Backpack” parking page more times than I care to count). No matter the reason, they degrade the value of search and make finding valuable information all the harder.
Sure, you can click on Google’s nifty “remove” icon next to the search result to purge it from YOUR future searches, but what does that do to clean this rubbish up in the broader sense? Not much. Thankfully, buried deep in the Google Contact page is the Report a Spam Result form. Here you can bring all manner of naughtiness to the search giant’s attention.
- Hidden text or links
- Misleading or repeated words
- Page does not match Google’s description
- Cloaked page
- Deceptive redirects
- Doorway pages
Consider it your good internet deed of the day. Maybe someone will write a browser plug-in to fast track submissions. I’d certainly install it after yet another SERP full of irrelevant noise.
