Spam sites listing my website on them, is this a good thing?

[keithd]

I have noticed something strange happening with a few of my sites in the last month....
It seems that they have gotten 1000's of back links from spam sites.

One of my sites has picked up more then 7800 back links most of which are on
spam sites.

What I mean by spam site is this... They have about 50 to 70 keyword links on the left
side of the page.... Google ads at the top of the page, below the ads there is usually an
article that has to do with the keywords. Under the article there seems to be about 20
or so relevant sites taken from the search engines. From what I can tell they have pulled
these from the top 20 list either from Google, Yahoo or MSN.

Not sure if what they are doing will actually work in there favor or not.

I am also not sure if I should be thankful for all the relevant back links, and possible
free traffic or scorn them for including my site on their spam pages?

Just a guess but I belive they are using something like Traffic equalizer or Spider bomb to create their pages.

[wednesday]

Every site with top 10 ranking in Y, MSN or Google for somewhat competitive keyword gets this kind of links. Nothing you can do. I doubt any search engine would penalize you. They've got to ban half of the web for scrapping and the other half for gaining scraped links. Just ignore it.

[ctabuk]

Excellent reply Brainwash. If you are offering such a great service then you have to take the good with the bad. Remember all publicity is good publicity providing they get your name right.

[clivemcg]

If this is what I think it is: I recently came across a, so called, SEO application that allows site owners to generate 100's or thousands of 'Doorway' pages for specific key phrases.

The way that this application says it is legit is that it builds mini-portal pages featuring, say, the top 20/30 sites on Google for that 'key phrase' but puts the client'owner's site on top of the list.

Nothing you can do about it really I guess, and since every link on the page is relevant to you (hopefully) and your page content it probably won't do your ranking any harm.

[rocky1]

Per Google -

http://www.google.com/webmasters/facts.html

Fiction: A competitor can ruin a site's ranking somehow or have another site removed from Google's index.
Fact: There's almost nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index. Your rank and your inclusion are dependent on factors under your control as a webmaster, including content choices and site design.


Pretty much a given that it can't hurt you, unless the linking is prevalent enough that it appears you have implemented it. i.e. Paid inclusion in a linking campaign or link farm.

[MarcGrobman]

Yes, I've noticed this quite a bit. My question is, what benefit does it give the site hosting the page? I bet they get some increased traffic from people wondering why they have their website listed. But can't be worth the effort. Or can it?

Marc

[spronger]

The IBLs you are receiving will do you no harm at all as long as you don't link back to them. Some webmasters who use this software will contact you asking for a link exchange because they've added you to their "directory". Don't fall for that one.

You probably won't get much benefit from the links either because ultimately these sites get banned. The owners are making a killing on AdSense but it's usually short-lived. Google should approve every site their Adsense code is placed on, rather than just the first site. That would likely put a stop to most of these sites. They exist for no other reason than to generate Adsense clicks.

Steve

[greeneagle]

I got caught up in a long list of recommended Sites that were passed around real-estate Sites and forums for months.

I don't deal in Real-Estate, totally irrelevant and had to seem spammy with most of them at PR0 and virtually the same text over and over again.

Didn't hurt, didn't help!

Ken