Google search goes downhill as spammer obsession grows

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When Google was a small darling of the tech elite, they were spammed. And as they grew larger, they were spammed more. But in reality, the rate of spam at Google really increased when they wrought their AdSense program upon the unsuspecting internet. AdSense made it possible that complete morons could monetize “websites” as easily as installing a script and registering a domain name. As the wave of spam that was created because of AdSense grew, Google went on an offensive to stop spam in their SERPS!

Herein lies the great paradox of Google’s current success. They’ve given people the tools (even “spammers”), and told them they could monetize any web page by inserting a JavaScript ad. You can also add any website you want (even freshly minted ones), with little or no editorial approval process. The quality guidelines are even vague and contradictory in areas, so there’s no doubt why people cranked up their page and site generators to make tons of pages. The rules are rarely enforced, and if they are, it’s done randomly and by an algo.

So now we have two distinct phenomena occuring for the last several years:

1) Webmasters are able to “monetize” without the slightest idea of how e-commerce actually works. Pathetically low quality guidelines are put into place, and the program is marketed worldwide to suspect webmasters who are given carte blanche to add websites without review.

2) Google WebSpam team bulks up after Google goes public and goes after all the “spam” pages, which are primarily being developed for AdSense revenue. Caught in the wide automated net they cast, millions of innocent webmasters are also killed. They throw the “baby out with the bath water”. Savvy webmasters, Google’s biggest fans during the salad days, are forced to realize their Emperor wears no clothes, and maybe Orwell was right, but 22 years premature.

This brings us to the present.  If Google is serious about fighting spam, they need to be serious about not being revenue-share partners with low and no-quality webmasters.  Unless they do, they send an awful message to the webmasters of the world.  Yes, we’ll take your traffic.  Yes, we’ll cut you a small percentage.  Yes, we will automatically “review” your website for spam and if you’re caught, you will be automatically destroyed.  No human will ever talk to you.  It’s time to quit being complacent about this high-handed treatment and demand that Google makes the moves they need to make in their AdSense department first, if they’re serious about improving search, and improving their dwindling popularity in the webmaster community.  Clear guidelines which apply to everyone and are enforced fairly would be a big step.

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