Google Hijacking - Advice please!

dj4uk · #1 (**permalink**) 01-17-2005, 05:41 AM

Our website has been ranking very well in Google for some time (usually ranked 1-4). All of a sudden the site disappeared.

I did a site search for various keywords and bizarrely another domain was listed top result for one keyword. The Title and Description were identical to my homepage. When I clicked the link it took me to my website (seemed to be just a redirection page).

Is this site hijacking my Google results? What can I do about it? Is Google penalizing me?

Help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

DJ

cbp · #2 (**permalink**) 01-17-2005, 05:50 AM

What is search phrase? What is your URL? What is the URL of the site redirecting to you?

CBP

Mr_Gadget · #3 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005, 04:19 PM

Hi DJ,

Unfortunately, although you've ranked in the top 4 in Google in the past, this does not guarantee that you will rank that well forever. Google has obviously decided that your site is no longer the most relevant to the keywords you have optimised for...

As per CBP's post, we're keen to check out your site to see what the problem could be...

Best Regards,
Mr.G :)

RandyC · #4 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005, 04:29 PM

DJ,

Check out the server response on the page that is redirecting to your site. You can use a tool like WebBug or Delorie's online header viewer to see the server response.

Dollars to donuts it'll be a 302 Temporary Redirect. And Yes, Google has a major problem with how they're handling them.

activeco · #5 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj4uk

Is this site hijacking my Google results? What can I do about it? Is Google penalizing me?

Some guys are using redirection sites such as tinyurl in a strange way, I guess for obtaining PR.
And yes, Google mostly picks up the last one.

activeco · #6 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005, 06:15 PM

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/...ead.php?t=2979

mj2043 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005, 06:31 PM

If you feel your site hijacked in Google SERP, there is a practical solution for that here in this thread 5th post
http://forums.seochat.com/t20802/s.html

activeco · #8 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005, 07:16 PM

I would say "inurl" is a better way to check if your site is (attempted to be)hijacked.

inurl:yoursite.com

awebguy · #9 (**permalink**) 01-19-2005, 04:28 AM

DJ,

You should immediately mail information about these sites to Googlebot team (googlebot@google.com) and they will manage the matter.
According to my own experience, they move such sites to supplemental results.

Best wishes,

dj4uk · #10 (**permalink**) 01-20-2005, 05:49 AM

Thanks for all the replies!

I don't really want to post my URL for reasons you can probably guess.

Yes the page thats causing the problem is using 302 redirect.

I'll give googlebot a shout by email see if they will do anything.

Tried to contact the site hijacking the URL but surprise surprise my email is bounced back and the contact details don't seem to work either. Is there any other way I can get at this site - ISP maybe?

Thanks for all your suggestions!

DJ

dj4uk · #11 (**permalink**) 01-20-2005, 05:56 AM

activeco: I've tried the inurl you suggested and the same page I've been complaining about appears in the results! Does this prove it is definately hijacking?

DJ

activeco · #12 (**permalink**) 01-20-2005, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj4uk

Does this prove it is definately hijacking?

If it involved 302 than probably yes.

In some cases however, other site's search engine results can be somehow spidered by Google and showed in Google results involving your site's url as a searched parameter.
IMO that is not hijacking your site for your keywords, altough such stuff should not be above your page, unless you were penalized.

scallihan · #13 (**permalink**) 01-20-2005, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by activeco

IMO that is not hijacking your site for your keywords, altough such stuff should not be above your page, unless you were penalized.

The SEOChat thread linked above in this thread pointed to another possibility -- that this sort of result happens when the redirecting site is a lot stronger in PR than the redirected site. This is apparently a bit of a Google glitch. I've got directory sites redirecting my URLs in the same manner, but they aren't able to nose me out in Google because I have strong PR.

activeco · #14 (**permalink**) 01-20-2005, 03:05 PM

What is this today? Am I so difficult to be understood? :-(

I was reffering to the other case, where the Google's results show the results of the other search engine.

Try this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl...webpronews.com

On the 2nd position (om my PC) is furl.net .
I don't think this should be called hijacking, altough this too could be misused.

However, some results from here are very questionable:
http://www.google.com/search?off=1&q...oworld.com&lr=