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Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by eropple on Monday June 05, 2017 @04:04PM (#14491179)
Yup. We used to call it "cloaking", I don't know if that's still a term in use in the SEO world.
Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by tyingq on Monday June 05, 2017 @04:27PM (#14491543)
Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by artursapek on Monday June 05, 2017 @04:55PM (#14491933)
They are known to crawl using human-like user agents instead of the typical Googlebot one precisely to counter this (weak) effort at playing the system. I'm surprised WSJ is surprised by the outcome here.
Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by x0x0 on Monday June 05, 2017 @05:35PM (#14492337)
They're in no way surprised; they're trying to marshal public outrage or lean on anti-trust efforts in order to force google to rank them higher.
Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by mistermann on Monday June 05, 2017 @06:28PM (#14492832)
I wish google would give us somewhere to report sites that are doing this.
Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by tyingq on Monday June 05, 2017 @07:01PM (#14493084)
It's here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreportform?hl=en

It specifically mentions cloaking.

Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by daddyo on Monday June 05, 2017 @07:05PM (#14493103)
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreportform?hl=en

> Webspam pages try to get better placement in Google's search results by using various tricks such as hidden text, doorway pages, cloaking, or sneaky redirects. These techniques attempt to compromise the quality of our results and degrade the search experience for everyone.

Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by sogen on Tuesday June 06, 2017 @12:39AM (#14494783)
According to this Facebook should rank very low.

Facebook doesn't even need Google, their users just visit the site directly.

I guess Mark zuckerberg doesn't lose sleep over this.

Re:WSJ Ends Google Users' Free Ride, Then Fades in Search Re... by daddyo on Tuesday June 06, 2017 @06:25PM (#14501985)
Google does not penalize Facebook for web spam. Facebook, to my knowledge, does not do:

- hidden text,

- doorway pages,

- cloaking, or

- sneaky redirects

They just show a big popover nagging you to log-in. But you can click this away.

If certain Facebook content pages rank low, or do not rank at all, it is because Facebook actively blocks Googlebot from accessing the content, not because Facebook is trying to deceive Google (or the user).

Though Facebook does not need Google, it could get quite a lot more visitors if it lowered the wall of its garden a bit. As is, Facebook is an inaccessible social echo chamber, and I don't lose any sleep over this.