The Googlization of Everything

Michael Stevenson wrote this and linked to it in the comments for the entry below:

... Two years ago, Google implemented the nofollow html attribute to prevent this very same comment spam. Nofollow is the default setting for comments on blogging platforms, meaning links placed in blog comments (including pingbacks) do not "count" in search engine rankings. It is overwhelmingly obvious that as a prevention mechanism, it simply doesn't work - spamblogs and comment spam are just too easy and cheap. What nofollow does do, though, is help keep Google's search engine rankings stable. If Google is serious about preventing comment spam, wouldn't it make more sense to prevent these guys and girls from getting accounts on Google Ads?

With the aggregation blog pictured above and the thousands of others like it, I have to complement the spammers on finding a solution for just about everyone involved:

1. Pingbacks are not followed, leaving rankings intact.
2. Google ads are a source of income for spammers and, ahem, Google.
3. I feel popular. (Excuse me while I go moderate some more comments.)

When the spamblog is the perfect marriage between Google and the spammers, what does that say about blogs more generally? As content recommenders - as citation specialists - we create value with and benefit from the work of others. We recommend, aggregate and redistribute - the spammers automate this process, as does Google on a massive scale.

Understandably, many have had enough of being this popular, and at least one blogger has issued a warning to the spammers saying they're no longer welcome. Like anyone, like Google, she's looking to protect an investment. A more radical approach might be to disable the Nofollow attribute en masse, invite the spammers in and watch as Google rankings become unsettled. From there, bloggers could wait for the changes in Google Ads policy to trickle (or roll) in. ...

This is very helpful. It corrects a mistake I made in the previous entry (that comment spam affects PageRank). And it makes clearer the complicated relationship between Web pollution and Google's interventions and interests.

Thanks, Michael!