CL keyword spamming at its worst!
- Thread starter janikphoto
- Start date
I haven't seen any people on here talking about that, just you, which is why I asked. If you can't come up with any examples, my guess is that it doesn't exist.
As far as what it is, keyword spam is a list of keywords at the bottom. Whether it's 5 or 50, it's usually incredibly obvious. You know it when you see it.
bhuskins
Super Member
Of course...once again, everyone is a liar unless they prove otherwise.
Very regularly when someone posts on D&S about a CL listing they don't like...someone else comes along and posts a one word respond of..."flagged"
If you haven't seen that before you must not spend much time in D&S
Very regularly when someone posts on D&S about a CL listing they don't like...someone else comes along and posts a one word respond of..."flagged"
If you haven't seen that before you must not spend much time in D&S
bhuskins
Super Member
So Jason and others...should this ad be flagged?
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/ele/5159156765.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/ele/5159156765.html
bhuskins
Super Member
My whole point about this is where the line is drawn...I don't think most would flag that ad whereas the flagrant original listing would easily get flagged. Rules are rules and IMHO craigslist needs a clear cut set of rules that are easily followed and easily policed...even for the newbie that's selling a piece of furniture for the 1st time. I spend more time than most on craigslist daily and it's far from perfect and could use a bit of refinement for sure.
Yes. It has a long list of names completely disassociated from anything in the ad, placed there only to muck up search results.
No. Multiple people have expressed their opinion. You've expressed yours. No one is telling you not to have your opinion, but if we were voting on this issue, you'd be badly outnumbered.
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Hifirob2
NEC and Klipsch rock!
From Craigslist:
_________________________________________________________________
"craigslist > about > prohibited
safety | recalls | scams | forum
Prohibited
Users must comply with all applicable laws, the CL terms of use, and all posted site rules.
Here is a partial list of goods, services, and content prohibited on craigslist:
weapons; firearms/guns and components; BB/pellet, stun, and spear guns; etc
ammunition, clips, cartridges, reloading materials, gunpowder, fireworks, explosives
recalled items; hazardous materials; body parts/fluids; unsanitized bedding/clothing
prescription drugs, medical devices; controlled substances and related items
alcohol or tobacco; unpackaged or adulterated food or cosmetics
child pornography; bestiality; offers or solicitation of illegal prostitution
pet sales (re-homing with small adoption fee ok), animal parts, stud service
ivory; endangered, imperiled and/or protected species and any parts thereof
false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent content; bait and switch; keyword spam
offensive, obscene, defamatory, threatening, or malicious postings or email
anyone’s personal, identifying, confidential or proprietary information
food stamps, WIC vouchers, SNAP or WIC goods, governmental assistance
stolen property, property with serial number removed/altered, burglary tools, etc
ID cards, licenses, police insignia, government documents, birth certificates, etc
US military items not demilitarized in accord with Defense Department policy
counterfeit, replica, or pirated items; tickets or gift cards that restrict transfer
lottery or raffle tickets, sweepstakes entries, slot machines, gambling items
spam; miscategorized, overposted, cross-posted, or nonlocal content
postings or email the primary purpose of which is to drive traffic to a website
postings or email offering, promoting, or linking to unsolicited products or services
affiliate marketing; network, or multi-level marketing; pyramid schemes
any good, service, or content that violates the law or legal rights of others
Please don't use CL for these purposes, and flag anyone else you see doing so.
Thanks for helping keep craigslist safe and useful for everyone."
________________________________________________________________
That is clear as day. Any keyword spam is prohibited, and Craigslist asks that you flag any such listing. I'm not seeing your "grey area" on this topic.
Sellers who keyword spam mess up buyer's searches, and waste my time. It's right up there with "bait & switch" advertising tactics. Completely unethical, IMO.
bhuskins
Super Member
I don't disagree with anyone on all of this...people manipulating their ads to be favored in search is a tactic and shouldn't be allowed. I don't care if someone fails to list a price or adds OBO to their price. I do not like ads that have make offer or taking offers til Friday, etc. I also don't like ads for buying stuff (I buy stereos, etc) in the for sale section (should those be flagged?)...I could go on and on
Here's one thing that's grey...define keyword spam.
I'm being picky here, but it's not clear cut.
Any list at the bottom of an ad? Stealth brand names and words thrown into the copy of the ad that are not specifically about what is being sold? A small, somewhat relevant list is OK? A longer not so relevant list is not OK? Do all you guys that put in an effort to flag ads religiously, flag all offenders or any sort of just the ads that are flagrant?
Here's one thing that's grey...define keyword spam.
I'm being picky here, but it's not clear cut.
Any list at the bottom of an ad? Stealth brand names and words thrown into the copy of the ad that are not specifically about what is being sold? A small, somewhat relevant list is OK? A longer not so relevant list is not OK? Do all you guys that put in an effort to flag ads religiously, flag all offenders or any sort of just the ads that are flagrant?
I think I mentioned this earlier, but if not: I don't have a problem with someone stating what equipment they've used as part of a test, or comparing something to other, similar items. It gives me an idea that the seller might know what they're talking about, and some points of reference.
I don't care about the length of a list of keyword spam, just that it has nothing to do with the ad other than to show up in unrelated searches. If I'm looking for Altec stuff, and someone's keyword spam drags up a set of low-end Magnavox speakers, all that does is clog up my search results.
I don't go looking for things to flag, but I flag rule-violating ads that I run across. That includes ads in the wrong categories, especially wanted ads in for sale sections. There used to be four different "flag" buttons, one of them was for "miscategorized." Another one I see a lot of is sellers who post ads in multiple sections. The rules clearly state that you can post simultaneous ads for something in two separate categories that relate to the item. Three or more, I start flagging them. The worst offender I've ever seen was someone trying to sell a Sansui audio timer. Instead of refreshing their ad every few days (as is allowed), they posted a new ad AND refreshed the old ones. I counted at least 27 ads one day for the same item.
I also look for vintage furniture, and one of the worst-abused terms I've ever seen is the name "Eames." There is no such thing as an "Eames era," and every time I see that ad stuck on something completely unrelated to things designed by Charles and Ray Eames, I flag it. The only ones I don't flag are ads for knockoff or similar items - IMHO, it's fair game to describe similar fiberglass shell chairs as "similar to Eames chairs" or something of the sort.
No lists. Period. No "ADS Fisher Bogen" or whatever. They're always at the end of the ad, there's usually a list of at least a half-dozen, generally a lot more than that. If they're not part of the ad, and not germane to what's being sold, it's spam.
For example, a listing for a Marantz receiver might mention a different Marantz receiver as a comparison, or might mention that the sound is similar to or different than Sansui or Pioneer. That's a legitimate use of those names.
However, an ad for a Marantz receiver that has "Fisher ADS Bogen Tube Amp Console" etc at the bottom is keyword spamming. It's generally extremely obvious, and I don't think anyone is having trouble telling the genuine from the spam.
If it has keyword spam, I flag it. If it's miscategorized, I flag it. If it's misleading or otherwise dishonest, I flag it. If it's for white van speakers, whether or not the seller knows that, I flag it, because those are in themselves dishonest, and they can damage your amplifier.
For example, a listing for a Marantz receiver might mention a different Marantz receiver as a comparison, or might mention that the sound is similar to or different than Sansui or Pioneer. That's a legitimate use of those names.
However, an ad for a Marantz receiver that has "Fisher ADS Bogen Tube Amp Console" etc at the bottom is keyword spamming. It's generally extremely obvious, and I don't think anyone is having trouble telling the genuine from the spam.
If it has keyword spam, I flag it. If it's miscategorized, I flag it. If it's misleading or otherwise dishonest, I flag it. If it's for white van speakers, whether or not the seller knows that, I flag it, because those are in themselves dishonest, and they can damage your amplifier.
Here are some examples from Milwaukee CL. I searched for "Altec" and then looked for listings that didn't have "Altec" in the title.
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/ele/5167492687.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/ele/5167525878.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/ele/5167492687.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/ele/5167525878.html
Hifirob2
NEC and Klipsch rock!
From Wiki - which calls it "Keyword Stuffing":
Keyword stuffing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (September 2010)
Keyword stuffing is considered to be an unethical search engine optimization (SEO) technique, which leads a website's being banned from major search engines either temporarily or permanently. Keyword stuffing occurs when a web page is loaded with keywords in the meta tags or in content of a web page. The repetition of words in meta tags may explain why many search engines no longer use these tags.
Keyword stuffing had been used in the past to obtain top search engine rankings and visibility for particular phrases. This method is outdated and adds no value to rankings today. In particular, Google no longer gives good rankings to pages employing this technique.
Hiding text from the visitor is done in many different ways. Text colored to blend with the background, CSS "Z" positioning to place text "behind" an image — and therefore out of view of the visitor — and CSS absolute positioning to have the text positioned far from the page center are all common techniques. By 2005, many invisible text techniques were easily detected by major search engines.
"Noscript" tags are another way to place hidden content within a page. While they are a valid optimization method for displaying an alternative representation of scripted content, they may be abused, since search engines may index content that is invisible to most visitors.
Sometimes inserted text includes words that are frequently searched (such as "sex"), even if those terms bear little connection to the content of a page, in order to attract traffic to advert-driven pages.
In the past, keyword stuffing was considered to be either a white hat or a black hat tactic, depending on the context of the technique, and the opinion of the person judging it. While a great deal of keyword stuffing was employed to aid in spamdexing, which is of little benefit to the user, keyword stuffing in certain circumstances was not intended to skew results in a deceptive manner. Whether the term carries a pejorative or neutral connotation is dependent on whether the practice is used to pollute the results with pages of little relevance, or to direct traffic to a page of relevance that would have otherwise been de-emphasized due to the search engine's inability to interpret and understand related ideas. This is no longer the case. Search engines now employ themed, related keyword techniques to interpret the intent of the content on a page.
With relevance to keyword stuffing, it is quoted by the largest of search engines that they recommend Keyword Research and use (with respect to the quality content you have to offer the web), to aid their visitors in the search of your valuable material. To prevent Keyword Stuffing you should wisely use keywords in respect with SEO, Search Engine Optimization. It could be best described as keywords should be reasonable and necessary, yet it is acceptable to assist with proper placement and your targeted effort to achieve search results. Placement of such words in the provided areas of HTML are perfectly allowed and reasonable. Google discusses keyword stuffing as Randomly Repeated Keywords.
________________________________________________________________
So, more grey area to You, I'm guessing. You are probably going to argue the definition of the term "necessary". Most of us know that keyword spamming is completely unnecessary, and therefore should NOT be used. That's why it's listed under "Prohibited Items" on Craigslist. Again, pretty cut & dry to me.
I'm not trying to pick on you. It's just human nature. One person may see it as ok, while others may see it as underhanded and unethical. Depends on how you were raised, I guess. Or if you took an ethics class in college - or not. Ethics have seemed to have taken a nosedive since I was in school.:yes:
Keyword stuffing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (September 2010)
Keyword stuffing is considered to be an unethical search engine optimization (SEO) technique, which leads a website's being banned from major search engines either temporarily or permanently. Keyword stuffing occurs when a web page is loaded with keywords in the meta tags or in content of a web page. The repetition of words in meta tags may explain why many search engines no longer use these tags.
Keyword stuffing had been used in the past to obtain top search engine rankings and visibility for particular phrases. This method is outdated and adds no value to rankings today. In particular, Google no longer gives good rankings to pages employing this technique.
Hiding text from the visitor is done in many different ways. Text colored to blend with the background, CSS "Z" positioning to place text "behind" an image — and therefore out of view of the visitor — and CSS absolute positioning to have the text positioned far from the page center are all common techniques. By 2005, many invisible text techniques were easily detected by major search engines.
"Noscript" tags are another way to place hidden content within a page. While they are a valid optimization method for displaying an alternative representation of scripted content, they may be abused, since search engines may index content that is invisible to most visitors.
Sometimes inserted text includes words that are frequently searched (such as "sex"), even if those terms bear little connection to the content of a page, in order to attract traffic to advert-driven pages.
In the past, keyword stuffing was considered to be either a white hat or a black hat tactic, depending on the context of the technique, and the opinion of the person judging it. While a great deal of keyword stuffing was employed to aid in spamdexing, which is of little benefit to the user, keyword stuffing in certain circumstances was not intended to skew results in a deceptive manner. Whether the term carries a pejorative or neutral connotation is dependent on whether the practice is used to pollute the results with pages of little relevance, or to direct traffic to a page of relevance that would have otherwise been de-emphasized due to the search engine's inability to interpret and understand related ideas. This is no longer the case. Search engines now employ themed, related keyword techniques to interpret the intent of the content on a page.
With relevance to keyword stuffing, it is quoted by the largest of search engines that they recommend Keyword Research and use (with respect to the quality content you have to offer the web), to aid their visitors in the search of your valuable material. To prevent Keyword Stuffing you should wisely use keywords in respect with SEO, Search Engine Optimization. It could be best described as keywords should be reasonable and necessary, yet it is acceptable to assist with proper placement and your targeted effort to achieve search results. Placement of such words in the provided areas of HTML are perfectly allowed and reasonable. Google discusses keyword stuffing as Randomly Repeated Keywords.
________________________________________________________________
So, more grey area to You, I'm guessing. You are probably going to argue the definition of the term "necessary". Most of us know that keyword spamming is completely unnecessary, and therefore should NOT be used. That's why it's listed under "Prohibited Items" on Craigslist. Again, pretty cut & dry to me.
I'm not trying to pick on you. It's just human nature. One person may see it as ok, while others may see it as underhanded and unethical. Depends on how you were raised, I guess. Or if you took an ethics class in college - or not. Ethics have seemed to have taken a nosedive since I was in school.:yes:
a search on the mobile alabama electronics section of cl for marantz.
http://mobile.craigslist.org/ele/5141049685.html
http://mobile.craigslist.org/ele/5089571274.html
that is 3 separate violations of the rules happening right there...
btw, he has at least 6 more of that same ad up. hes spamming every city he's willing to drive to
and heres an example of one that i dont have a problem with.
http://hattiesburg.craigslist.org/ele/5161952453.html
http://mobile.craigslist.org/ele/5141049685.html
http://mobile.craigslist.org/ele/5089571274.html
that is 3 separate violations of the rules happening right there...
btw, he has at least 6 more of that same ad up. hes spamming every city he's willing to drive to
and heres an example of one that i dont have a problem with.
http://hattiesburg.craigslist.org/ele/5161952453.html
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janikphoto
Lunatic Member
I agree. A list at the bottom is not informative. It's placing a list of keywords in your ad to spam it to as many people as possible, without consideration. It polluted keyword searches. If someone takes the time to write a sentence that says something like, "this Mac wil complement your technics, thorens, sansui, or other vintage turntable", well... I don't consider that spam. Sure, it might make the Mac piece show up in a technics search, but it's informative info. It's not just a list of every single audio manufacturer placed at the bottom of the text.
-reverb-
Buying, selling... mainly buying
Although it is a nice Fisher, this is one of the worst keyword spams I have ever seen
http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/ele/5196166810.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/ele/5196166810.html
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