888.com Great Example of Blackhat SEO at work

[lots0]

Want to see what money will buy you???

888 is the most blacklisted casino site on the web.

888 has been blacklisted by dozens and dozens of websites/affiliates all across the web.

The many websites that have blacklisted 888 have even worked together in an effort to put their Blacklisted 888 pages in the SERP for the keywords like [blacklisted casino].

However, this is where the money and black hat SEO comes in...

If you do a search for [blacklisted casino], [casino blacklist] or any related keyword in google... none of the top 20 pages in google have a single page that has 888 Blacklisted...

High priced Blackhat SEO Reputation management at work...

888 has paid quite a bit of money to keep pages that Blacklist them off the front pages of the SERP...

I guarantee that if you talk to any webmaster that has Blacklisted 888... They will tell you how their site has been attacked by Blackhat SEO's and how the Blackhat SEO's tried to drop their ranking in the search engines...

888.com a real example of what Blackhat SEO can really do.

[John]

That's some power they have. Impressive.

[lots0]

Not impressive... Unless you find thieves and con artists 'impressive'.

But this whole 888 thing does make me angry.
Angry enough to talk to several google search engineers about what can be done about 888 and their little buddies like luckyace and 777...

And for the rest of you Webmasters, I suggest in the future you go directly to Google with complaints about 888 and their related sites.

[John]

http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

Yes unfortunately they do spend a bunch of money. Where they get away with it is that they also spend 1 million per month offline on things like FA Cup sponsorship and even loads more on Google PPC.

Google allowing bidding on gaming terms last October was another decision. That hasn't drawn enough income so now they are loosening the leash on brand bidding - especial with DKI !

This is why Google splits hairs and admitted that they DO practice brand preference when one stands out - but who makes that determination???

They are fortunate in that they get to make the rules, and then benefit from it.

Probably has nothing to do with the quality control team in Ireland...

I'm guessing their account receivables or their shareholders swing that gavel

[AussieDave]

I guarantee that if you talk to any webmaster that has Blacklisted 888... They will tell you how their site has been attacked by Blackhat SEO's and how the Blackhat SEO's tried to drop their ranking in the search engines...

I was one of those affiliates.
We managed to get a good lot of page 1 serps to begin. But as you commented 888 used black hat tactics to google bowl our sites out of the rankings.

For those interested here are the two articles I wrote about 888.com

XXXhttp://web.archive.org/web/20070106103036/www.wager2win.co.uk/888_sitescraping_rogue_affiliate_webmasters.html

XXXhttp://web.archive.org/web/20070106102834/www.wager2win.co.uk/ecogra_plays_favouritism_to_888.html


Cheers
T

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

How do you guys think 888 can get access to your webmaster central account to see that you have submitted them for buying links?

888 doesn't need to bh competiing sites. They have enough trust and authority and offline advertising that pulls direct searches, as well as Affiliate sites and online advertising that the traffic they get alone give them an unnatural boost.

If you are being bowled you are being bowled by other Affiliates or sites you beat out on specific keywords.

888 just like every other major gaming site has inhouse and outsourced SEO and/or link building services that get paid for positions and traffic and its much more likely they are the guilty parties rather than 888.

888 wouldn't take that risk, and for them to effectively and discreetly use this technique is a bit beyond their in-house teams ability. This I can assure you.

[lots0]

I didn't think that Gigi was out there personally hacking wordpress blogs in order to set up the google bowling attacks... But he and the other board members of 888.com have allowed this kind of activity to be carried out in their behalf and for their personal gain for a very long time. Not the kind of behavior that US Regulators will like when the time comes around to issue Online licenses inside the USA...

I also don't buy the argument that google receives so much money from 888 that 888 gets 'special' access to information and special placement in the SERP.

Once google lets money directly influence their SERP, then the government gets a foot hold inside their company, (fair advertising) and the boys at google are more afraid of that than they are just about anything... So I think you will CONTINUE to see Google go wayyy out of their way to prove to the public and to the Government that advertising money does not effect their search results.

How do you guys think 888 can get access to your webmaster central account to see that you have submitted them for buying links?

888 doesn't need to bh competiing sites. They have enough trust and authority and offline advertising that pulls direct searches, as well as Affiliate sites and online advertising that the traffic they get alone give them an unnatural boost.

If you are being bowled you are being bowled by other Affiliates or sites you beat out on specific keywords.

888 just like every other major gaming site has inhouse and outsourced SEO and/or link building services that get paid for positions and traffic and its much more likely they are the guilty parties rather than 888.

888 wouldn't take that risk, and for them to effectively and discreetly use this technique is a bit beyond their in-house teams ability. This I can assure you.

[Webzcas]

How do you guys think 888 can get access to your webmaster central account to see that you have submitted them for buying links?

888 doesn't need to bh competiing sites. They have enough trust and authority and offline advertising that pulls direct searches, as well as Affiliate sites and online advertising that the traffic they get alone give them an unnatural boost.

If you are being bowled you are being bowled by other Affiliates or sites you beat out on specific keywords.

888 just like every other major gaming site has inhouse and outsourced SEO and/or link building services that get paid for positions and traffic and its much more likely they are the guilty parties rather than 888.

888 wouldn't take that risk, and for them to effectively and discreetly use this technique is a bit beyond their in-house teams ability. This I can assure you.

I am inclined to agree. It is more likely 888's top affiliates and therefore our competitors who are using underhand techniques.

I haven't used google adwords for my gambling domains as of yet, but I have recently been running several adwords campaigns for my political site and it is interesting that my natural serps have moved upwards since I started throwing some money towards adwords.