Google Catches Overstock Scamming The Search System

Nobody likes a cheater. Especially not Google, who just penalized Overstock.com for trying to boost their search rankings using some slippery tactics, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Overstock, a purveyor of myriad discount items, was just recently in the top results for queries like "area rug" or "duvet cover" but has since dropped to the fifth or sixth page in Google's search listings as a result of the discovery.

Google's PageRank system gives better placement to pages that are linked to heavily, giving links from certain kinds of sites more weight than others. Overstock, apparently aware of the fact, offered discounts of 10 percent to students and teachers in exchange for links on keywords like "futon" or "curtain rod." Links that come from .edu sites are given greater weight than other sites.

In Overstock's case, the retailer offered discounts of 10% on some merchandise to students and faculty. In exchange, it asked college and university websites to embed links on certain keywords like "bunk beds" or "gift baskets" that then led to Overstock product pages.

"Google has made clear they believe these links should not factor into their search algorithm," said Patrick Byrne, Overstock's chief executive, told the Wall Street Journal. "We understand Google's position and have made the appropriate changes to remain within Google's guidelines."

Search Engine Roundtable caught some screenshots of both Overstock's link exchange offer, and a page with the asked-for links.

Overstock may have crossed the line, but the quest to get on top of Google's search rankings is a familiar game for all websites. And they're not the only ones to go a little too far in the quest for better SEO, or search engine optimization: JC Penney and Forbes were both recently punished for what Google considered inappropriate techniques to up rankings.

Comments

[gokulram arunasalam]

08:44 AM on 02/25/2011

Not sure what was wrong here. Overstock 'invested' in promotion. It is not like they hacked the algorithm. Am I missing something?

[SuperBenFranklin]

07:25 AM on 02/25/2011

What is wrong with what overstock did. Pay someone for promotion?

Google is overstepping their power.

Then again google is pretty broken at this point. It doesn't really work anymore.

[Aleks Hunter]

09:51 AM on 02/25/2011

No, overstock paid to scam the system. Hopefully google will be doing more of this. Try this, google your town, especially if you live in a smaller town and look at how many hotel and lodging sites come up in the first many, not few pages. Like that is all your town has to offer.

[rh654]

06:17 PM on 02/26/2011

"Overstepping their power" ?

Its THEIR search site - its not some public service that is paid for by taxpayers... They can do whatever they want with Google - if people don't like it use another search engine.

[Standout Seo]

03:14 AM on 02/25/2011

wow! i am quite familiar with reasons for blacklisting. it's pretty exciting to see it in action! practice ethical SEO people!

[dtreeves]

04:23 PM on 02/24/2011

This article is horribly written. There are grammar and punctuation mistakes all over the place. I never comment on anything, but I had to because of large number of errors.

[Spinman]

11:23 PM on 02/24/2011

Instead of posting a comment, click on the "Send Corrections" link. They really do respond (and fix things)!

[Imzadi]

08:23 AM on 02/25/2011

Happens a lot here. Even occassional typos are encountered.

[JustBen]

04:19 PM on 02/24/2011

I own a small retail site and every major competitor buys links. I'm glad that Google is finally starting to take notice and crack down on it.

[Ambrish Kochikar]

03:04 PM on 02/24/2011

So let me get this straight. Google makes money off of figuring out what people like because they use it to search for stuff. They sell that insight to others who can then sell those people the kind of things they're searching for (probably, sometimes way off). And Google thinks that someone is scamming its system for getting products in front of eyeballs?

Has the whole world gone crazy or is this the Godfather telling Luca Brasi that he's going against the family? The irony is that they're both taking from the people what the people don't even know is being taken.

[Rich Phitzwell]

01:38 AM on 02/25/2011

No there are rules and if you break them it can increase traffic but if caught you will be penalized. I'm a web developer and know the rules and abide by them and all my sites are high ranking. Oversite is too large not to understand the rules. This all goes back to the early days when people were using Meta tags unrelated to the site to draw traffic and then to sites that repeated keywords. To draw more traffic. Google has been pretty good about finding ways people break the rules and over the years has adapted. Hate them or not they do try to keep search pure while offering ways for companies to pay to be in the ads on the first page. For the smaller companies it levels the playing field.

[durant]

02:39 PM on 02/24/2011

" So can Google arbitraril­y change the rules for particular websites? "

Google didn't change the rules. Google's guidelines are quite clear, and it's equally clear that Overstock.com tried to corrupt Google's search results by ignoring those guidelines.

Google has a right to protect the quality of its product (search results) for the benefit of its users and, ultimately, for its stockholders.

[xtiangodloki]

10:49 AM on 02/24/2011

Considering how much efforts HuffPo has spent on SEO, I am surprised that Google didn't come after Huffpo/AOL yet.

[airmikee99]

12:32 PM on 02/24/2011

Google doesn't go after people that expend effort on SEO, they go after people that fraudulently try to game the rankings. Are you saying that HuffPo has done something sneaky in order to up their search results on Google? Do you have proof of this, or is this idea centered in a seating position?

[xtiangodloki]

12:58 PM on 02/24/2011

The whole point of employing SEO services is to "game" the ranking system, so when people search the internet for stuff like Superbowl, Huffpo would somehow come up before NFL.

http://www.slate.com/id/2284353/

[ffd]

10:41 AM on 02/24/2011

I am really getting worried about Google having so much power. It makes sense that web pages with most links on the web are ranked higher. So can Google arbitrarily change the rules for particular websites? or are they merely redefining the general ranking rules? This should be clear...

[Ambrish Kochikar]

11:07 AM on 02/24/2011

You are free to stop using Google, right?

[StephenJK]

12:43 PM on 02/24/2011

Yeah, I have...Bing is a better experience anyway....Google is the new Walmart of the online realm. I avoid it like the plague....after all, it's one of many search engines and already, I see that they are completely unnecessary. Why are they so powerful and widespread? Bing does the same thing.

Ditch Google. Their in cahoots with the spooks.

[airmikee99]

12:33 PM on 02/24/2011

No, it shouldn't be clear. The more information Google gives about its search results, the easier it is for other people to cheat their way through it.

Don't like Google? Awesome. Stop using it.