Google bans BMW

[G_C]

Full story here (courtesy of CNN.com):

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/02/07/google/index.html

Google blacklists BMW Web site

CNN) -- Google has blocked the German Web site of BMW after accusing the car maker of trying to manipulate search results.

The company was blacklisted for using so-called "doorway pages," using search terms such as "new cars" and "used cars" to boost its ranking in search results lists.

Such pages can be used to trick search engines into sending users to Web sites that are not directly related to the search terms they are searching for.

Google says it will temporarily or permanently suspend any site that breaks its rules. BMW denies any wrongdoing.

A Google spokeswoman said: " We can confirm that BMW.de has been removed from our search results. We never comment on the specifics of individual cases but we would stress that the quality of our index and search results is of the utmost importance to Google.

"We cannot tolerate Web sites trying to manipulate search results as we aim to provide users with the relevant and objective search results.

"Google may temporarily or permanently ban any site or site authors that engage in tactics designed to distort their rankings or mislead users in order to preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results.

"We will re-include sites if we are sure that they are no longer trying to violate our quality guidelines."

Many Web sites choose to "optimize" their ranking by working on the site content and architecture so that Google can effectively rank it.

On Google's own Web site, the company lists a series of quality guidelines.

First among those is a requirement to design Web sites for users, not for search engines.

"Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as 'cloaking,'" Google says.

BMW spokesman Marc Hassinger said the company did not consider the use of "doorway" pages to be a manipulation.

He said the pages had been created to direct people who were interested in topics related to BMW -- such as used cars -- to the right pages.

The "doorway" pages were removed last Thursday after criticism surfaced on a blog written by a Google staffer, he said.

He added the company was in talks with Google and he was confident the site would be reinstated. He said 0.4 percent of traffic to the BMW.de Web site came through Google.

 

[Ringr]

IMHO that's kind of like GoDaddy banning torrent sites (but a little bit more direct). I still think that's kind of pointless, if they're going to ban one website for doing that - why not ban the other of thousands?

 

[G_C]

I really don't see BMW executives crying their eyes out over not being listed on Google, since I suspect that the majority of their traffic really comes from existing or prospective customers who already know where to look in the first place. Frankly, I've having a really hard time imagining someone search for "how to buy a BMW" or "where to buy a BMW"!

 

[Smith]

I think it was more like google making an example of someone, for using questionable seo optimization. I'm sure this hurt bmw, they wouldn't have gone through the effort of doing something like this if they didn't see the value in google traffic. (not even taking into account the embarrassment of the situation)

The real interesting bit will be seeing if google lets them back in, and how many M6's end up in the google parking lot

 

[Badger]

well, they cant have been that serious for they left BMW's main site untouched..

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-06,GGLJ:en&q=site:bmw.com&meta=

What did make me laugh though is "BavarianMotorWorks" dot com is a parking page.. :lol: Especially as BayerischeMotorenWerke dot com was successfully claimed by BMW in an action against some Turkish guy... http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0719.html

 

[DOMiNIC]

Well I'm sure there is no lack of people queing up to bid on BMW.com if they let it drop!!!

 

[Amnezia]

Well I'm sure there is no lack of people queing up to bid on BMW.com if they let it drop!!!

for a start is was bmw.de that got kicked, so why would they let bmw.com drop :yell:

The whole thing is completely stupid, why the hell are bmw spamming, they have a huge brand name and a massive marketing budget why risk using questionable SEO tactics?

well, they cant have been that serious for they left BMW's main site untouched..

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-06,GGLJ:en&q=site:bmw.com&meta=

What did make me laugh though is "BavarianMotorWorks" dot com is a parking page.. :lol: Especially as BayerischeMotorenWerke dot com was successfully claimed by BMW in an action against some Turkish guy... http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0719.html

yes but there was nothing wrong with BMW.com, the problem was on the BMW.de site. They had been doing it for a while another SEO pointed it out to me a couple of weeks ago. Im glad google took action tho, im fed up of my sites getting banned while huge brands are doing the exact same thing and getting away with it.

 

[Peter]

well, they cant have been that serious for they left BMW's main site untouched..

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-06,GGLJ:en&q=site:bmw.com&meta=

What did make me laugh though is "BavarianMotorWorks" dot com is a parking page.. :lol: Especially as BayerischeMotorenWerke dot com was successfully claimed by BMW in an action against some Turkish guy... http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0719.html

Why would they ban the .com if that was not in violation of the rules?

He added the company was in talks with Google and he was confident the site would be reinstated. He said 0.4 percent of traffic to the BMW.de Web site came through Google.

That sounds like a bit of a false truth, of only 0.4% of the traffic came from google why would they be in such a hurry to sort it out.

 

[TT]

That sounds like a bit of a false truth, of only 0.4% of the traffic came from google why would they be in such a hurry to sort it out.

0.4% to them could mean 98% to the normal guys website and the 0.4% could also reflect the keywords mentioned in the article. The company can spin it any way it wants.

 

[netzilla]

I am honestly shocked to hear that any part of BMW was using "black hat" techniques to try and manipulate search results. In my experiences with German folks and companies they seem seem like very hard respectable workers with strong ethics. The funny part is like they really had to go that route I am sure it wont hurt sales

 

[Joseph]

Its not exactly bad publicity... its getting the message across the BMWs website is availble via BMW.de

 

[DOMiNIC]

I am honestly shocked to hear that any part of BMW was using "black hat" techniques to try and manipulate search results. In my experiences with German folks and companies they seem seem like very hard respectable workers with strong ethics. The funny part is like they really had to go that route I am sure it wont hurt sales

I'm not trying to start a new world war, but BMW was founded on "black hat" techniques, building engines for fighter planes to bomb the British, and they still keep the propeller logo, thats why I would never be seen dead in a BMW.

We can forgive the past, but the logo is an insult to ALL who died in the war.

 

[Amnezia]

I am honestly shocked to hear that any part of BMW was using "black hat" techniques to try and manipulate search results. In my experiences with German folks and companies they seem seem like very hard respectable workers with strong ethics. The funny part is like they really had to go that route I am sure it wont hurt sales

There are some pretty decent german spammers around. You have to remember that in terms of SEO blackhat does not mean illegal like it does in the cracker world. Blackhat SEO is merely anything that violates the search engines TOS, its a pretty victimless crime.

 

[netzilla]

I am honestly shocked to hear that any part of BMW was using "black hat" techniques to try and manipulate search results. In my experiences with German folks and companies they seem seem like very hard respectable workers with strong ethics. The funny part is like they really had to go that route I am sure it wont hurt sales

There are some pretty decent german spammers around. You have to remember that in terms of SEO blackhat does not mean illegal like it does in the cracker world. Blackhat SEO is merely anything that violates the search engines TOS, its a pretty victimless crime.

Maybe I put a little too much drama in my post. I by no means suggesting that they are criminals. I am suprised that they would stoop somewhat low to accomplish something that they can easily afford to pay for and risk getting that site banned.

 

[DOMiNIC]

Post Removed . Wrong Thread.

 

[staskul]

Strange news =) BMW.de used dorways? LOL

 

[netzilla]

I wonder if they hired an external SEO firm or if they have their own internal department. I also wonder if the higher-ups knew what was going on and if anyone got canned :notme:

 

[Zeeble]

This is really simply a high profile case to deter smaller fry from doing the same... It was guaranteed to hit the headlines.

 

[Flaresolutions]

There are some pretty decent german spammers around. You have to remember that in terms of SEO blackhat does not mean illegal like it does in the cracker world. Blackhat SEO is merely anything that violates the search engines TOS, its a pretty victimless crime.

You cant really say it is a "victimless" crime when you dont know the extent of it. BMW could have set up thousands of doorway pages which were intentionally made to deceive potential customers and steal traffic away from legimate search engine listings.

 

[fonzie_007]

Pretty interesting stuff. It isn't too often a big company gets caught with doctoring sites and banned... Beware of Google and GoDaddy, the new internet policing squad.