1. Penny’s got its site listed through what the article calls “dirty hat” campaigns, in which the company deceptively posted link garbage through a list of websites. It created a huge list of search terms that directed you straight to the retailers website, which is a according to Google, not the legitimate way to improve a websites search optimization.
2. The most captivating fact of the entire ordeal was that this was a huge corporate company that participated in a “dirty campaign”. It is also very interesting to see the veil of Google be lifted slightly, informing the public through a newspaper article just how vicious and ambitious the world of online advertising is. It also touches on the ethical and unethical side of control on the internet as well.
3. Google’s role cannot be completely firewalled, as mentioned in the article, stopping spam is a never ending job and Google takes action or more understood to be retaliation against violators to what they feel inappropriate by demoting the companies search positions.
4. Businesses that choose to piss Google off, ultimately feel retaliation as mentioned above by demoting the search results for the company and essentially burying them online. However I feel the real damage done to a company who takes part in spam is the image left to current, future and potential customers, when caught spamming a company could leave a real bad image in the brand.
5. According to the Google estimator:
guitars= estimated average CPC= $0.92
purses= estimated average CPC= $0.96
shoes= estimated average CPC= $1.02
Which means cost per click, so every time a keyword is clicked Google gets paid the amount for the click.
