FW: Google takes on comment spam

nm I should have just looked at the link in the first place :) See below: We've also discussed this issue with colleagues at our fellow search engines and would like to thank MSN Search and Yahoo! for supporting this initiative. Here are a few guidelines for anyone else who wants to join the cause. Q: How does a link change? A: Any link that a user can create on your site automatically gets a new "nofollow" attribute. So if a blog spammer previously added a comment like Visit my <a href="http://www.example.com/">discount pharmaceuticals</a> site. That comment would be transformed to Visit my <a href="http://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">discount pharmaceuticals</a> site. Q: What types of links should get this attribute? A: We encourage you to use the rel="nofollow" attribute anywhere that users can add links by themselves, including within comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists. Comment areas receive the most attention, but securing every location where someone can add a link is the way to keep spammers at bay. Q: Should I put rel="nofollow" on the link to my comments page? A: Probably not, because lots of interesting discussion can happen there. Also, if other people link to your comments page, a spider can follow that link and find any spam that's lurking on the comments page. The best places to add this attribute are the actual links that other people can create. So on this page, for instance, only the links within comments and the link immediately after "Posted by:" would get the rel="nofollow" attribute. Q: Do individual bloggers need to do anything? A: Probably not. Updating the software that generates these pages will ensure that most bloggers get these changes automatically. Q: Is this a blog-only change? A: No. We think any piece of software that allows others to add links to an author's site (including guestbooks, visitor stats, or referrer lists) can use this attribute. We're working primarily with blog software makers for now because blogs are such a common target. Got more questions? Email commentspam at google.com. As we spot more areas where spammers still abuse the Web, we'll contact the appropriate people in order to keep fighting comment spam. Matt Cutts, Google Software Engineer Jason Shellen, Blogger Program Manager > While I applaud this, having had to deal with a penis enlargement > spammer, my question is, well, probably stunningly simple and > something I should know.... > > The "nofollow" will not be put there by the spammers presumably since > they want the link to be followed... so would it get there by a script > that the blog software applies to all comments? I guess? > > Dana > > On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 12:44:57 -0500, Michael Dinowitz > <mdinowit@houseoffusion.com> wrote: > > Originally posted by Kevin Graeme to the CF-Community list. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > If you're a blogger (or a blog reader), you're painfully familiar with > > people who try to raise their own websites' search engine rankings by > > submitting linked blog comments like "Visit my discount > > pharmaceuticals site." This is called comment spam, we don't like it > > either, and we've been testing a new tag that blocks it. From now on, > > when Google sees the attribute (rel="nofollow") on hyperlinks, those > > links won't get any credit when we rank websites in our search > > results. This isn't a negative vote for the site where the comment was > > posted; it's just a way to make sure that spammers get no benefit from > > abusing public areas like blog comments, trackbacks, and referrer > > lists. > > http://www.google.com/googleblog/2005/01/preventing-comment-spam.html > > > > -Kevin > > > >