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Help Stop Your Posts from Being Hijacked

If you do a lot of Internet search, you've come across a site or two that do nothing but aggregate links as a means of generating money from Google & Yahoo click ads. Recently I am noticing that some of the posts from our site - The Harper Team - are being hijacked by these low-lifes.

I want to help make people aware of this and offer a means to help combat this scourge.

Here is the post from our site -

San Ramon - Dublin - Pleasanton CA Real Estate News - Dec 30

And here are two examples of it being hijacked -

http://3d1st.com/blogs/Orlando-Bad-Credit-Home-Loan/6291/

http://mortgage-refinance-homeequity.com/blogs/california-home-loan-mortgage-mortgage/12211/

So, what can we do about this. The first thing I do is to report the site to Google - Spam Report (bookmark this page for future use)

I alert them to the fact that the site is hijacking my material solely for the purpose of cheating the Google Ad Sense campaign - as they can clearly see if they visit the site. I ask them to remove the site from their index.

I would like to hear from anyone that has more information about what can be done. I am going to ask a couple of people who are more tech oriented to weigh in on this so, you might want to follow the comments for a while.

Posted by HarperMees & Associates on 01/01/2007 03:15 PM

Comments (48)

spam, abuse, phishing, click fraud, google, ad sense

48 Comments on Help Stop Your Posts from Being Hijacked

JAN

2007

This is a big issue. My posts are getting splogged all the time. I dont know how to stop it. I have a report web forgery button on the top of my newest version of firefox. I have not used it though.

Great, great post. I'll be following the comments to see what insights we all can learn here. Thank you.

That's happening to me too.

Have you heard anything from Google about it?

That's happening to me too.

Have you heard anything from Google about it?

Google advised me to use their spam report

Here is an excerpt from an email sent to me from Mary McKnight

The content you are speaking of is from your blog's RSS feed. Your RSS feed is available for republishing on other sites as well as feed reader access. That is the purpose of the RSS feed- it gives you greater Internet visibility and one of the powerful marketing tools of a blog. However, I agree that the uses were mildly shady in that they listed themselves in the by line. It may have been an oversight on their part as they did include a link to your original post. You can request they list your site in the by line.

To eliminate spammers from using your RSS feeds, lookup their ip or domain name and ad them to your blacklist or .htaccess file so they will be banned from doing it in the future.

Personally, I see our content all over the place on aggregators and I don't mind because it does drive some valuable traffic back to our main site. It is a personal choice whether you want to pursue certian uses of your content, but if it is exerpted and contains a link back to your post somewhere it is generally considered a valid use.

Hey Guys,

I've noticed this trend with my own blogs on Active Rain and I'm ready to do something about it...If...I don't get credit for it!

Great Blog and it's relevant to all of us :)

Scott

Now that is interesting. As long as they link back to my site and have me credited for the article on their site, I don't have a problem with it. But check out this link that Laurie Manny had blogged about earlier.

http://www.aliihomes.com/Active_Blogs/page_1710070.html

Even though it links back, it has the entire article on their site, with no mention of the author. I just double checked the site and it belongs to Alex Davidson who is a memebr of AR. Could it be an RSS feed that's not set up properly?

Don't bother telling Google about it. I have noticed this issue with my website and blog over the last year and they have done nothing about it. They have more important things to care of.

Thanks for the info. I am aware that some of my content exists on the Alex Davidson site and decided to take the high road and contact him assuming this is a mistake. Hopefully it is and my post will be removed.

This could be a huge problem, is there any other recourse if this is indeed content swiping beyond the Google contact?

Without anything indicating the correct authorship (and even, sometimes, with acknowledgement of such) this could easily be interpreted as a violation of copyright law. I guarantee you that Google would take THAT seriously, because they are the ones with the deep pockets and their attorneys would most likely point this out to them.

If Mary is excusing this as the way RSS works (and I can see an argument for that), then I see some serious copyright issues with RSS in future - the caselaw on this ought to be very interesting. Can't wait to read it!

Thanks for the info. Like others, I actually thought that this was a benefit to me by providing links to my blog posts. Is this creating problems for you, or do you feel as if you are getting bogus PPC charges?

Cyber plagiarists.....when will it end??

OK, lets look at this from Mary McKnight's viewpoint.

1.) If having RSS feed keeps a massive flow of fresh content on your blog website and that fresh content (which the spiders just love) drives you up to the top of the search engines and keeps you there, then this is an invaluable tool.

2). We are participating in AR for pretty much 2 reasons:

A) Social networking - We have this when we post for members only, to a point, consumers still lurking.

B) Exposure and Ranking - Priceless - If your posts are exposed on other successful blogs, wouldn't you have more exposure, more potential for relocation clients, more back links driving you up further in the engines.

While I agree that the author should be credited, if you really think about this, is this really so bad?

Now the link that is mentioned above in Bryants comment, does not appear to be an RSS feed. It appears to be a cut and paste job, which would account for so many of the letters and pictures becoming mangled. This happens often when you cut and paste to a different system that might not support the same fonts, etc.........

Whatever, just my observations from reading so many of Mary's enlightening posts.

Laurie

Damion, can you explain how this is not a violation of copyright law and the copyright of the original author?

It's not a lot different, as far as I can tell, from someone reprinting an entire book, selling copies, and, in some cases, not even putting the author's name on it, and then saying, "But it's good publicity for you!" as an excuse for said violation.

Wouldn't wash in court. Wouldn't wash ethically.

As far as removing it from their sites if you contact them about it - the appropriate (and legal) thing would be for them to contact you for permission BEFORE putting the entire article on their site, credited appropriately or not.

A brief quote (very brief - Fair Use is a slim reed to lean on when you find yourself defending a charge of copyright violation) with a credit and a link is generally no problem. Entire republishing is something else again.

Bryant you said you did not have a problem with this if they linked back to your site and credit you, I agree with you, I often reprint articles for my hunting website, heres a thought why don't you just include your name and website in the article itself that way its there where people can see it,

I definitely agree it has something to do with the rss feeds. Do a google search on something that will only have about 4 or 5 pages and go to the last page. You will see an Rss feed as the last page with all the articles stuck in there like they belong to someone else. It's a whole page set up just for hijacking.

Good point Daniel about including your name in the article itself.

When I get really inspired or profound in a way that I would not want stolen, I don't put those thoughts in a blog.

I have a website that lets people use the photos for no charge. I have some that I don't post there.

If someone finds my blog interesting, I benefit from the backlink of the hero. The others just got some chatter.

Harper Team, I think that pretty much that happens to all of us. It does give you some notability which is the very reason you blog. I don't think that Google will do anything about it but like Mary said you could put them on your black list so that at least they don't come and get your info.

I'm dying to ask you ... since I visited your website and saw your advertisement about selling a house within 60 days or paying $ X. ...do you actually pay anyone or is there something in small print??? Inquiring minds would love to know.

Caleb just send me an email confirming that the site in question is an RSS feed.

Laurie

Good post - I have had the same question for some time. I have some videos posted to Google, and they too have been hijacked.

Without reaching a resolutin in my mind, I have justified it thinking that at least if they are generating traffic, then I am getting links back to my website. Is that justification or am I fooling myslef.

Please keep us posted as to what you find.

Have a Blessed Day,

John Occhi, Hemet REALTOR
http://www.johnocchi.com/

Definitely not a good thing to find out about. Why can't everyone just be original. I will admit to using pictures that I find on the internet but I would never steal or copy/paste someone's blog or content. That is just not right. If someone did it to me, I would feel so used.

JAN

2007

My question is what method was used to find your material on other sites?

Thank you in advance.

Stage It Forward!

And this is why I add my email signature to all of my blogs. If it isn't credited on behalf of the rss feed to html person, it's within the blog itself :)

Scott

Nima- Thos pictures you find on the internet and use for yourself are someone else's pictures. It's not any different than taking someone else's written word.

I am parking to watch the comment thread. Interesting stuff. :)

I have not made any conclusions about this. YET. :)

Must have more info before making any ASSUMPTIONS.

TLW...ROAR!

Theft....Linking.... copying or simple cut and paste it all boils down to folks not having the intellectual capacity to generate information that will sustain regular and frequent contacts, which can generate $$$$, power and or status... so they"Borrow" from others without regard to intellectual ownership.... Shame Shame...

It's kind of like the definition of speeding. It's only speeding when someone's going faster than I am.

I suspended my adword "content network" on google a while back. I still do some ppc on google, but not the network, just because of spammers adding portions of a blog (my blog) , and then making money on clicks to my site....that I'm paying for. It cut my adwords budget a lot.

So what am I left with? Becoming a journalist to have a sound presence as a REALTOR on the internet. Google is genius. :(

This is the better mouse trap?

Mango!

Thank you for sharing, I did not know this was happening. I will surely check this out.

I like Scott Gormley's idea of including the author's "signature" within the blog itself - then those folks can hijack away!

I am not so sure that this "hijacking" is an automatic rss thing. I became aware of this because I use Google Alerts to monitor my keywords. They could be doing the same thing. Also, it is apparent that they are making some changes - like removing the permalink from the post title and in the case of the mortgage hijacker - adding their biline to it.

The point that seems to stir me up the most is that there is no other content on these pages. The piece of my post is only being used to help these lowlifes generate click through revenue.

I'm appreciating all of the comments. I have emailed a few well known people outside of AR to weigh in on this. Hopefully we'll see something from them today.

I had an idea that this was going on, seeing that there will always be lazy people using someone else's work as their own, but I had no idea how widespread the problem was. Unique material is one thing that helps you crawl the ladder of search engines, so the more people that copy your content, the further down the ladder you fall.

Great post, and I'll definitely keeps my eyes open with my own material.

Maria

I would like to see Bryant's follow up in regards to that AR member.....

I am also still very new to this, so I am trying to understand a lot of this.

Last..... if someone could answer Sheron Cardin's question, that would be great. thanks..

Like Mary said you are getting noticed and as shady as it may be or not I would take her advice but also watch the sites that are doing it and if it is done on a regular basis give them a call. Let them know you are aware of what they are doing but would appreciate not being quoted in the future. It might work.

Thanks for this post-something else to add to my list of things to do and to watch. I don't know that I'd mind too terribly much as long as there is potentially a benefit to me. I do like the above idea of imbedding name and website into the article though.

Scott, I have thought about that too but I have not applied it yet, maybe I should start

Jeff & Sheron

Google Alerts

Harper Team,

Thanks for the post. I am also of the opinion that a link back to my blog, giving me credit is a good thing. I want the traffic that it will generate. The problem is when you have not been given credit for your work. That's when you use the blacklist.

Okay, everyone is really making "mountains out of molehills" here.

Your blog has not been "hijacked." Reporting this to Google will do nothing, because it is not spam. Your blog has an RSS feed, which is you giving permission for your blog to be rebroadcast on other websites.

GOOGLE IS ACTUALLY THE REASON THIS IS HAPPENING TO YOU!!!

The example you gave at: http://3d1st.com/blogs/Orlando-Bad-Credit-Home-Loan/6291/ is giving you credit as the original post. The person that owns this site is pulling feeds from the results he/she are getting from Google's blog search.

For example, this is why your article was chosen. http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=area+ca+california+home+in+loan+mortgage+pleasanton

The culprit did a search on Google's blog search for the keywords: mortgage home loan in pleasanton california area (or some combination of those words) Your site came up, and some script he has running pulled the RSS and put it on the site. They are trying to:

A) to get top 10 rankings for various keywords by putting the rss feeds of the top 10 blog results for said keywords.

and/or

B) They are a new adsense publisher and are trying to get the higher paying ads displayed on their site, and have a click scheme set up (they find people to click on them in exchange for some illicit information/file they have) Obviously keywords relating to California Mortgages have some high paying players involved. Google's adsense algorithims will not put the top paying links on sites considered "new or questionable", they will only display the low paying links. This person may believe that having all these feeds from established sites will trick the algorithim, but thats just not the case.

The culprit in question is a NOVICE! I promise you this guy is not even making a 1 dollar a day from the adsense clicks. It is a newly registered domain, has a PR of 0, Google has 0 pages indexed, and it has no original conent. In laymans terms: A WORTHLESS WEBSITE!!!! Google didn't get where it is today for being stupid. If this person is doing things that violate Adsene terms of service.. they will get caught and suspended.

The time you have spent worrying about this is too much already! Let it go! It is not hurting you in anyway, and they are making nothing! I agree with the other statements about how it is actually helping you. Yes backlinks are good, but I doubt any weight would be given for a backlink from a site like this. It is however a link, and the spiders will crawl and follow. When you have various RSS postings all over the net, the odds of spiders finding your new content quickly are increased practically exponentially.

I am a Google Certified Adwords Professional by the way, and I pretty much know all the ins and outs when it comes to this stuff.

Also whoever stated they had deactivated Google's content network for their campaign made a SMART MOVE! The content network is a big waste of money when it comes to real estate keywords. The click is more impulsive and can be downright fraudulent in some cases (like the one talked about here).

Very interesting information David. It makes sense that back links are good, even if only to increase the chance of spiders finding us.

JAN

2007

David

Good info. I refer to it as being hijacked because they do alter the feed to make it appear that it is coming from them, e.g., removing the permalink from the post title, inserting their biline. I had not thought to check to see how new their site is. Appreciate the great feedback. - j

Great information. I did not know the google page existed. It is now a bookmark!

Understood Harper Team. I can see how it would upset you. When you have a nice website, and unique content... you are going to attract things like that. It's good that you are keeping tabs on things and were able to detect the couple of instances you gave. Your time is valuable, and I just wanted to stress that "being right" in this specific scenario is more than likely not worth your time. You wear the white hat, and have what appears to be a great thing going. The culprit might figure out a way to make a quick buck here and there, but at the end of the day... they have nothing with any long term carryover value. It's almost safe to say that someone who does things like that is desperate.

I am very impressed with EVERY aspect of your website. It's design, navigation, content... it's a winner!

David

Thanks for your comments. I would welcome any in-depth advice and education you could offer as I am sure the rest of the AR community would.

We're still evolving the site. MLS search and calculators are next.

JUL

2007

Thanks for the info. I have gone and learned all about googles programs. Thanks a bunch

Obviously this is a serious matter. I am fairly new to this form of communication. I will be listening and learning

I just checked the links above in your original post and it appears that you have taken care of the problem...or at lest put out this little fire as the forest continues to burn.

John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR®
Mission Grove Realty

DEC

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