Posts

“You'd be amazed at everything they can scrape now days. all with the help of software. Have you been able to get them to remove the listing yet?”

Radio silent, so from previous experience a forum post seems to achieve quicker results.

Perish the thought that <URL Removed> and SCAM appear in the same sentence

Scraping public address information I can understand (though not condone), although I thought Google was supposed to be hammering these content scrapers!

But scraping reviews, passing them off as your own, and getting rewarded with rich snippets displaying in the search results just takes the mickey. Even more so when the review is from the MD of a competitor review site!

At least <URL Removed> Scam is top P1 Google.
So with all the Google updates and it's crusade to clean up it's search index, why is it good old fashioned content scrapers can still rank so well?

Scraper sites stealing content is nothing new, but this one came to light and really takes the mickey.

<URL Removed>

The listing that caught our attention was one for Headley Court, the UK Military Hospital that specialises in missing limbs.

They have a courtesy full listing on My Local Services, and I've left a review on there:
Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre - Hospitals Epsom Surrey

Imagine my surprise to see this content scraped, including my review, dumped on the scraper site, and then overlaid with a
What Are You Listening To Now? 25th October 2012 2:10 PM
“Although it is a nice change from Christmas music in October! ”

lol it's that time of year, roll on Jan the 1st!
Any startup hubs in Glasgow 25th October 2012 10:15 AM
“Hi,

I am wondering if there are any startup hubs in Glasgow, Scotland?”

Do you mean Biz Startup help?

Margaret Totten may be able to help with Glasgow based initiatives. She's the Glasgow East rep for Startup Britain:
Glasgow East | StartUp Britain

If you do contact her, tell her where you got her name
Red Route Boxes 24th October 2012 11:46 AM
“so out of sheer devilment I reported it and got a reply back stating, that the officer had only been parked a few minutes to get his lunch...”

Old story, but reminded me of my mate in a previous life when we were military drivers, and part of our job was driving the station ambulances. The military police never liked us, and kept doing us for speeding, meaning lots of working weekends etc

So one day, may mate Paddy was tootling around in the ambulance by himself picking up some mail when a Police car went flying by, blatantly speeding, but not showing any flashing lights. Paddy decided he'd had enough, stuck on the blue lights and siren and then chased after the police car, eventually pulling over the bemused and confused copper, and tearing a right strip off him for speeding, and then reported him to his boss.

Overnight Paddy became a local hero and legend in his own lifetime

Unfortunately Paddy got a right bollocking and the coppers came down on us like a ton of bricks

But still makes me smile thinking of the ambulance chasing after the police car
Tried facebook ads when they first came out, but didn't get anything back from it. Was pretty cheap, but I don't think FB paid advertising is the right marketing vehicle for a business directory.

Be interesting to hear any FB Paid ad success stories though.
Pinterest opens it doors to the public! 24th October 2012 10:18 AM
“Well i really found Pinterest fun for marketing as I have seen my friends working on it. Can you tell me in detail how it works for fashion industry!”

erm, get pictures of pretty dresses and pin them

Guess it's same for any industry, find relevant boards and re pin ones you like,in the the hope they follow you and repin yours. Other than that no idea
Is this the next update from Google? 24th October 2012 10:09 AM
Hmm it is a worrying trend.

We did a post back in August which has a good link to SEO MOz blog about SERP Shrinkage.

Organic Search Results are shrinking!

But 95% ads is a bit alarming! Be good if he could get a screen shot
“All old news since Google released the anti-negative SEO tool, Disavow Links last week.

It is a game changer regarding links, and life for SEO's will never be easy again.”

Hmm not so convinced with the disavow tool, personally I think it just fuels the link miss-information and hysteria...

Googles Disavow Tool - becareful... be very careful!
Monkey management courses! 22nd October 2012 11:22 AM
I did think this was a wind up, but apparently aggressive stances, chest beating and foot stamping also happens in zoo's and not just board rooms

BBC News - Animal behaviour in the boardroom