Conversation with a Blog Spammer - No Link No Juice [NLNJ]

Scott Johnson co-Founder of the blog search engine Feedster, has posted an interesting IM exchange with a blog spammer.

For my colleagues reading this, we can take away a better understanding of the how & why these types of blogs & websites exist - they're being used to manipulate Google's PageRank, and thereby achieve top placement for very profitable (read viagra, texas hold'em poker, etc.) search terms.

Because links are votes with Google, and it's difficult to get links from quality websites when you're promoting this stuff, the spammer will simply manipulate the system by creating websites & interlinking them.

If you read through the exchange, note towards the bottom he says: "(no link; I don't want to give them any juice)". This is a great approach for anyone publishing on the web. If you don't like something, don't link to it. It's that simple. You're only giving them the votes they want for SE rankings.

I think this will be my new approach - type out the url, don't hot link it, and add a [NLNJ] after the web address.

Thanks Scott.