Buying or selling links that pass PageRank violates our webmaster guidelines.

Such links can hurt relevance by causing:

Inaccuracies: False popularity and links that are not fundamentally based on merit, relevance, or authority Inequities: Unfair advantage in our organic search results to websites with the biggest pocketbooks

- Google Webmaster Guidelines

Paid Links are for Little Fish

I think most people would agree that in an ideal world the results we see in Google would not be manipulated by the rich and powerful. And surely, the kinds of Paid Links that have been the controversy du jour lately are a way that well-financed interests can manipulate the Search Engine Results Pages to their liking - but really, mere link-buying is not the kind of tactic that those with "the biggest pocketbooks " need stoop to employ. An actual example should help make it clear how far beyond paid posts and link-buying SERP manipulation can go, when the rich set their pocketbooks to it.

THE PROBLEM

If you have ever paid any attention to the various "9/11 Conspiracies," you may have heard about the "put options" in the stock market placed the day before the planes hit the Twin Towers. These "anomalous purchases translated into large profits as soon as the stock market opened a week after the attack," and many believe they indicate that someone was prepared to profit from the tragedy. Now, for our purposes it really doesn't matter if this was a coincidence or evidence of foreknowledge. All that matters here is that the questionable stock trading was done through the A.B. Brown unit of Deutsche bank, that the head of that unit was Mayo Shattuck III, that he resigned the day after 9/11, and that controversy and speculation exists about these things. Two weeks later, Shattuck was unexpectedly voted in as President and CEO of Constellation
Energy Group

, where he makes $9 million annually - and continues to

stir controversy

By 2006, Mayo was sick of the negative articles that internet searches for his name

brought up - many of which focused on the 9/11 stock market controversy. So he decided to pursue some online reputation management. So let's take a look at his actual "Online Reputation Management" campaign, and see how they've worked to bury negative articles in the SERPs - particularly for searches explicitly seeking information about Shattuck's connection to the events of 9/11.

THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM

campaign, continually scrubbing Wikipedia, etc)

*(in addition to the trophy wife PR

Create several fake Mayo Shattuck websites

Each well optimized, padded with unique content focusing on his virtues and philanthropy, and linking to each other as well as to positive articles on trusted sites: www.mayo-shattuck.com www.mayoashattuck.com www.mayoashattuck.org www.mayoshattuck.net www.mayoshattuck.org www.mayo-a-shattuck.org www.mayoshattuck3.net www.mayo-a-shattuck-news.com "Who would bother to make these three (separate?) websites about Mayo Shattuck 76? They dont seem like vanity sites, but neither are they critical." - EphBlog: 'Mayo Online'

Work with client's energy company to:

start a golf tournament on September 11th, launch a "911 alternative" phoneline, and announce a '9/11-inspired' "Emergency Preparedness" Plan.

This is where it gets really interesting, since it demonstrates realworld manipulation directed toward search engine results; offline optimization.

9/11 Golf Tournament: http:/ /www.mayoashattuck.com/ philanthropy.html Maryland 911 Service: http:/ /www.mayo-shattuck.com/ MASannounces.html Emergency Preparedness Plan: http://www.mayo-shattuck.com/ CEGbusiness.html Coincidences? These allow for Press Releases with both "Mayo Shattuck" and "9/ 11," "911," or "September 11th" in the titles and copy. Content about these events is placed on the fake Mayo Shattuck websites and optimized, pushed out into Press Release sites, etc.

Use a network of second-ring 'dummy sites' to funnel linkjuice to the primary sites:
(Note: Links [how many, the text linked, the source linking, etc] are arguably the primary factor in how search engines determine where pages rank in the search engine results) Some are bland 'authoritative' sites that simply help boost ranking for Mayo's name on the various primary sites, others use "9/11" & "September 11th" as anchor text, or near it. Examples: http://www.golfinterest.com/golf_interest_emergencies.htm http://www.golfinterest.com/golf_interest_philanthropy.htm http://www.golfinterest.com/golf_interest_resources.htm http://www.golfinterest.com/golf_interest_schedule.htm http://www.friendsofeco.com/constellation-energy.html http://www.environment-support.org/global-warming/companyprofiles/constellation-energy.html (very bottom) http://www.freewebs.com/beneficent/news-and-stuff.html http://www.businesspolitics.org/resources/mayo-shattuckbusiness-politics-news

http://www.ilovepressreleases.com/pressreleases/advertising/ mayo-shattuck_10202006.html http://seahawkssportsman.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/hellomayo http://www.charitableactivities.com/corporate-charitablemic.html+Mayo+constellation http://www.localinfrastructureneeds.com/industries.html http://www.energyleaderprofiles.com/shattuck.html http://www.intlbusiness.net/cem.html http://corporatesuccess.org http://www.leadersinbusiness.net/ly.html http://benefice.cloud.prohosting.com/instructions.html http://www.xyz.manchestercity.com.pl/?title=Mayo_Shattuck_III http://www.leadersintech.com/pa.html http://www.techbusinesses.net/cons.html http://www.innovatorsoftechnology.com/ technology_innovators3.html And here are a few that have been taken offline:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070831173110/http://www.advisorynews.com/ MayoShattuck.html http://web.archive.org/web/20080124014632/http://www.bzadvisory.com/ MayoShattuck.html http://web.archive.org/web/20071215042212http://www.bznewssource.com/ mayo-shattuck.html http://web.archive.org/web/20070112115715/http:// www.energyleadersnews.com/news.php?page=mayo_shattuck http://web.archive.org/web/20071215042212/http://www.bznewssource.com/ mayo-shattuck.html http://web.archive.org/web/20070205173935/http://www.mayo-a-shattuck.org/ CEGhurricane.html

Use a network of third-ring 'dummy sites' and blogs to funnel linkjuice to the secondary sites:
Note: the "rings" are not by any means absolute - "second ring" sites also link to "third ring" sites on occasion, and you could easily move any given link from one "ring" to another. But in general there is a broader network of lower quality links on the outside, all directed in tighter and tighter at the targeted "Primary Sites." http://www.facesofphilanthropy.com/resources.php http://www.brandmanaging.com/a_whypr.html http://coldturnkey.com/archives/2008/10/28/rest-of-the-year-

off-for-tiger-woods/ http://www.bznewssource.com/resources.html http://www.gamblingshuffle.com/tiger-woods http://trickser.com/archives/2008/10/28/golf-for-kids http://www.palacegambling.com/the-radar-flight-monitor Etc etc, you get the drill by now. Many more of the same. New: Find more on your own, or explore some of the other clients' networks tied in - click here for instructions.

Use fourth-ring dummy blogs/sites and 3rd-party sites to funnel link juice to the third ring sites:
This is where we really see a greater quantity and lesser quality of inbound links - from dummy blogs, guest posts on 3rd party sites, links added to Wiki-style pages, etc. Some are even nonsense pages with random text content. Links will sometimes be in context of content about the people that Primary sites' focus will be on, to help make the third ring sites be perceived as more authoritative about these topics.

http://blog.v7n.com/2007/01/page/4/ http://tn9.net/archives/2008/07/23/jk-rowling-more-than-justharry-potter http://beckoners.com/archives/2008/06/17/warren-buffetpioneering-a-new-front-of-philanthropy/ http://www.institutionsofphilanthropy.com/philanthropicorganizations/angel-network.php http://ja.wikipedia.org/ wiki/%E7%AF%A4%E5%BF%97%E5%AE%B6 - Japanese Wikipedia http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Philanthropy http://www.rivardsolutions.com/world-wide-fund-for-nature/ http://starch.itgo.com/page-01-pf.html etc etc etc etc etc etc

Sit back and watch your fake webpages flood the search engines

http://www.google.com/search?q=mayo+shattuck http://www.google.com/search? q=mayo+shattuck+september+11th http://www.google.com/search?q=Mayo+shattuck+sept+11 http://www.google.com/search?q=Mayo+shattuck+9-11

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THE PROBLEM WITH THE SOLUTION

Paid Links and Sponsored Conversations are minor problems compared to SERP-engineering of this magnitude - however, what can really be done about such tactics? This isn't just a matter of paid links - it's the wholesale creation of a large 'paid network,' tied in with real world, offline events optimized to manipulate search engine results. And keep in mind that the example above is just one piece of one small and relatively primitive operation (from 'way back' in 2006, and privately funded). This is the merely the point of the tip of a huge, honking iceberg. Reputation Management SERP manipulation will only get more subtle, powerful, and pervasive, as more and more money is put behind the effort and as tactics are honed. In the face of the power of money, does Google really have a hope of keeping the 'World's Information' free from massive "inaccuracies and inequities"? And how hard will they really try? Sadly, it's difficult to reasonably hope that the internet can fare any better against corruption than any other information medium so far has. Print, radio, television ... all utterly co-opted by power and money.

The internet, giving citizens the ability to search for information rather than merely have it fed to them, has such potential to break this trend - but only if that very ability to seek and find the truth is not, itself, corrupted. I Want to Believe - in the Internet's Great Promise, and in Google's commitment to "Not Be Evil" while "providing unbiased, accurate, and free access to information. I really do. So if there are any White Knights of Truth in the Googleplex, keep up the good fight. Rage, rage against the dying of the light ...

"Information is the currency of democracy." Thomas Jefferson

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"I want to thank the President and CEO of Constellation Energy, Mayo

Shattuck. That's a pretty cool first name, isn't it? Mayo. Pass the Mayo."
- GW Bush

questions / comments / suggestions