{"id":154911,"date":"2023-03-16T01:47:49","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T06:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=154911"},"modified":"2023-08-17T22:06:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T03:06:29","slug":"websites-that-tried-to-fool-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Websites That Tried to Fool Google (And Failed)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">SEOs have been trying to outsmart Google for as long as it has existed. Sometimes, they win; other times, their attempts fail.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are 10 extraordinary examples of websites that failed to fool Google.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Conch House\" data-section=\"conch-house\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Conch&nbsp;House<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1770\" height=\"1450\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image33-1.png\" alt=\"Overview of Conch House, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-154930\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image33-1.png 1770w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image33-1-519x425.png 519w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image33-1-768x629.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image33-1-1536x1258.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1770px) 100vw, 1770px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on August 19, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Conch House received an estimated 6.7M organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2,794,551 keywords ranking, August 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>255,527 pages, August 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Estimated traffic: 3.6M, August 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Conch House is a review site that ranked for over 250,000 \u201cbest+[product]\u201d keywords and acquired 14,000 number #1 rankings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This huge rise in organic traffic meant the website became notorious in certain SEO circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1430\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9.jpg\" alt=\"Value of pages, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9-594x425.jpg 594w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image6-9-1536x1099.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see there is some serious money at play here, and this didn\u2019t go unnoticed on SEO Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Their auto-generated content managed to rank massively. If I had to guess, they probably made $1M in affiliate commissions in the time they were ranking (speculation given metrics). <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/X89TH6nCT1\">pic.twitter.com\/X89TH6nCT1<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Thomas Jepsen (@JepsenThomas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JepsenThomas\/status\/1564663012346265600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30,&nbsp;2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It used an authoritative expired domain and created content targeting \u201cbest +[product]\u201d keywords.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also used dynamically created pricing tables on its landing pages to encourage visitors to click through to Amazon and maximize its income. If a user bought a product, it would earn an affiliate commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shockingly, for a few months, this setup was good enough to fool Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There was speculation that the site used AI to create its content, but it might have been much simpler than&nbsp;that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It might have used concatenation to stitch sentences together and insert product titles to slightly differentiate each&nbsp;post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a look at some of its&nbsp;posts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1230\" height=\"1450\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image68.png\" alt=\"Content built at scale, via CH blog\" class=\"wp-image-154933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image68.png 1230w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image68-361x425.png 361w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image68-768x905.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1230px) 100vw, 1230px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>From the website, you can see several stock phrases it used to build content at scale quickly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cAre you looking for the most reliable and efficient [product title]?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cIf so, congratulations!\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cWhat is the importance of [product title] to&nbsp;you?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cThe service we provide will save you time from reading thousands of reviews.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It also used dynamic pricing tables like the one below to supplement the content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1526\" height=\"644\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image95.png\" alt=\"AAWP pricing table\n\" class=\"wp-image-154935\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image95.png 1526w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image95-680x287.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image95-768x324.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1526px) 100vw, 1526px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we jump into the code, we can see this is a popular table plugin called AAWP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1208\" height=\"178\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image18-5.png\" alt=\"AAWP pricing table, via inspector\n\" class=\"wp-image-154937\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image18-5.png 1208w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image18-5-680x100.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image18-5-768x113.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1208px) 100vw, 1208px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This plugin allowed the site owners to:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Create best-selling product lists at scale for all of their posts dynamically.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Geo-target multiple locations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get automatic updates of product information via Amazon\u2019s Product Advertising API.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>I mentioned earlier that this site used an expired domain\u2014let\u2019s look at&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s go to the <strong>Top pages<\/strong> report in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"818\" height=\"756\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image60.png\" alt=\"View on Archive.org, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154939\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image60.png 818w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image60-460x425.png 460w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image60-768x710.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 818px) 100vw, 818px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Click on the downward facing caret \u25bc next to the homepage URL&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>View on Archive.org<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see the site\u2019s history:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image15-5.png\" alt=\"Wayback internet archive, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-154943\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image15-5.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image15-5-680x290.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image15-5-768x328.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image15-5-1536x655.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Surprisingly, the domain has a continuous history back to 1996, one of the things the new owners might have been interested in. With history also came links and a degree of trust from Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1106\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image46.jpg\" alt=\"Conch House Marina Resort 1996, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-154945\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image46.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image46-680x376.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image46-768x425.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image46-1536x850.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">How the website appeared in&nbsp;1996.&nbsp;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Having a continuous history this far back in the Wayback Machine is not that common. Most domain names and websites have changed digital hands many times. (1996 was two years before Google was released\u2014making this website <em>older<\/em> than Google.)<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The site got serious traction for about three months. But then the traffic suddenly plummeted, and the domain was auctioned off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The site has had three significant dips in organic traffic in its lifespan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>During this period, there were two Google updates: the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">July 2022 Product Reviews Update<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">August 2022 Helpful Content Update<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is also a chance that the site received a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/manual-action\">manual action<\/a>, although the gradual decline of the site may mean that this is unlikely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In a further twist, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/glenngabe\">Glen Gabe<\/a>, who was following the site, tweeted that he believed it was not impacted by the&nbsp;HCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi Pete. Hey, conch-house wasn\u2019t impacted by the HCU. I\u2019ve been following that for a long time. They were deindexed earlier than that, then reindexed again, then deindexed again. But again, not due to HCU. You can check this thread for more info: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GeQuCTrgn5\">https:\/\/t.co\/GeQuCTrgn5<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/glenngabe\/status\/1572924161248444417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 22,&nbsp;2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In terms of organic traffic, it\u2019s much lower than it was previously, with no hope of returning to those previous levels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, you could argue that the site owners successfully exploited a gap in Google\u2019s algorithm at the right time to make money. If that was their only objective, then they achieved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. Find This Best\" data-section=\"find-this-best\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Find This&nbsp;Best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1858\" height=\"1432\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image20-4.jpg\" alt=\"Overview of Find This Best, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154947\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image20-4.jpg 1858w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image20-4-551x425.jpg 551w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image20-4-768x592.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image20-4-1536x1184.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1858px) 100vw, 1858px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">On August 27, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Find This Best received an estimated 1,951,727 organic traffic at its&nbsp;peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2,794,551 keywords ranking, August 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>255,527 pages, August 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Estimated organic traffic: 3.6M, August 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Just going by its homepage, this is a website that, in all honesty, doesn\u2019t look <em>that<\/em> bad.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1850\" height=\"1558\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image97.png\" alt=\"Find This Best homepage\" class=\"wp-image-154949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image97.png 1850w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image97-505x425.png 505w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image97-768x647.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image97-1536x1294.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1850px) 100vw, 1850px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But this website may remind you not to judge a book by its&nbsp;cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This site scraped content word for word from Amazon product listings and targeted \u201cbest +[product]\u201d queries. It also likely used some dodgy-looking high <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/domain-rating\/\">Domain Rating (DR)<\/a> links to try and fool Google.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When it came to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-write-great-content\/\">great content<\/a>, this site didn\u2019t disappoint. Somehow, Google didn\u2019t seem to pick up on this site, but it didn\u2019t go unnoticed by SEOs on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Google: We love unique content<br>Also Google: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UkHeQ30wCw\">https:\/\/t.co\/UkHeQ30wCw<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Roy Cohen (@cohen_cr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cohen_cr\/status\/1555994430242529281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 6,&nbsp;2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at one of the highest traffic pages from the <strong>Top pages <\/strong>report in August, we see the formatting of the page looks like an Amazon product page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1796\" height=\"1412\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image98.jpg\" alt=\"FTB product page\n\" class=\"wp-image-154950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image98.jpg 1796w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image98-541x425.jpg 541w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image98-768x604.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image98-1536x1208.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1796px) 100vw, 1796px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">High-traffic product page on the&nbsp;site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s see how it compares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we copy and paste part of the product description into Google, it immediately brings up the equivalent Amazon product page for the same product in the search results.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1290\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image40.png\" alt=\"Amazon product page\n\" class=\"wp-image-154955\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image40.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image40-659x425.png 659w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image40-768x496.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image40-1536x991.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Equivalent Amazon product page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If I paste the content from the Amazon product listing and the equivalent from this website into Diffchecker, we can see that the two files are identical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1268\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image80.jpg\" alt=\"Comparing the text, via Diffchecker\n\" class=\"wp-image-154957\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image80.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image80-670x425.jpg 670w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image80-260x166.jpg 260w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image80-768x487.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image80-1536x974.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Using Ahrefs, we can get an idea of how many of these types of pages&nbsp;exist.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s go into <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer\u2019s<\/a><strong> Top pages<\/strong> report and add a <strong>URL filter <\/strong>containing \u201cbest-\u201d to filter for any \u201cbest-\u201d keywords.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"804\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image3.gif\" alt=\"Ahrefs' Top pages report\" class=\"wp-image-155155\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see that this site was targeting ~77,809 \u201cbest\u201d keywords at its&nbsp;peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we add a \u201cPosition\u201d<strong> <\/strong>filter to filter out only the number #1 ranking positions, we can see that this site had ~4,583 number #1 ranking pages at its&nbsp;peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is what it looks like in Ahrefs\u2019 <strong>Top pages<\/strong> report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1546\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image79.png\" alt=\"Top pages report filtered by position and URL, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image79.png 1920w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image79-528x425.png 528w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image79-768x618.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image79-1536x1237.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Using this level of low-quality scraped content, it was able to reach huge levels of traffic, even in 2022\u2014albeit briefly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s plug this site into the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230000000000*\/https:\/\/findthisbest.com\">Wayback Machine<\/a> to see its history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1762\" height=\"606\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image84-1.png\" alt=\"FTB history, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-154963\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image84-1.png 1762w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image84-1-680x234.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image84-1-768x264.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image84-1-1536x528.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1762px) 100vw, 1762px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As it\u2019s a relatively new domain from 2020, we can probably assume to get these traffic levels, it\u2019ll need some high DR&nbsp;links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can look at the domains by going to the <strong>Referring domains <\/strong>report in Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>. We can see that this site has some dubious-looking high DR URLs pointing to&nbsp;it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1357\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image16-3.png\" alt=\"Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154964\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image16-3.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image16-3-626x425.png 626w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image16-3-768x521.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image16-3-1536x1043.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of an unconventional-looking DR 81&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1166\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image82.png\" alt=\"DR 81 website\n\" class=\"wp-image-154966\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image82.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image82-680x397.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image82-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image82-1536x896.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see the link if we open the inspector and search for the domain name.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"867\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image45.jpg\" alt=\"DR 81 website with inspector\n\" class=\"wp-image-154969\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image45.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image45-680x295.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image45-768x333.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image45-1536x666.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The site had two sharp drops\u2014one in mid-June and the other steeper one in September.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first drop seems to align roughly with the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">May Core Update<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The second steeper drop could be attributed to the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">Helpful Content Update<\/a> (HCU).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The organic traffic drop rebounds slightly in early 2023, potentially suggesting that this is not a manual penalty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"740\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image52.png\" alt=\"FTB's Performance chart, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154971\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image52.png 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image52-680x265.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image52-768x300.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image52-1536x599.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s impossible to confirm what <em>exactly<\/em> happened here. But based on the timing of the second drop, we can speculate that this site was hit at least by the&nbsp;HCU.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For the most part, yes. But judging by the most recent organic traffic graph, the site appears to be trying to resuscitate itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. For Noob\" data-section=\"for-noob\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. For&nbsp;Noob<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1758\" height=\"1434\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image63.png\" alt=\"Overview of For Noob, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154973\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image63.png 1758w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image63-521x425.png 521w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image63-768x626.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image63-1536x1253.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1758px) 100vw, 1758px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on March 15, 2022, Ahrefs reported that For Noob received an estimated 1,706,557 organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>604,926 keywords, March&nbsp;2022&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>82,611 pages, March&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 1.3M, March&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This next site is a basic-looking blog loaded with lots of display ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you spot the content?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1576\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image74.png\" alt=\"For Noob homepage\n\" class=\"wp-image-154976\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image74.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image74-539x425.png 539w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image74-768x605.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image74-1536x1211.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The site had quite a good run compared to other sites mentioned here but experienced a slow death for almost a&nbsp;year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the problems this site may have had (apart from its low-quality content) is the sharp increase in unnatural-looking links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The website describes itself as: \u201cThe place to answer many questions in life, study, and work.\u201d If we head to the <strong>About<\/strong> page, we don\u2019t get much more information\u2014just four lines of content surrounded by&nbsp;ads.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not a good&nbsp;start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1051\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-8.png\" alt=\"For Noob's About page\n\" class=\"wp-image-154977\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-8.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-8-680x358.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-8-768x404.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image8-8-1536x808.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The content appears to be a mix of People Also Ask (PAA) spam, forum comments, lists, and reviews. Most pages are no longer live. But if we look at the Wayback Machine, we can see how it used to&nbsp;look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1237\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image88.png\" alt=\"For Noob pages, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-154979\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image88.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image88-680x421.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image88-768x475.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image88-1536x950.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look at one of the articles, we see it isn\u2019t helpful or high-quality content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1482\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-6.png\" alt=\"For Noob low-quality content, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-154981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-6.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-6-573x425.png 573w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-6-768x569.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image1-6-1536x1139.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This content could have been scraped from a forum or somewhere like&nbsp;Quora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And here\u2019s another example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1454\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image75.png\" alt=\"For Noob low-quality content, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-154980\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image75.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image75-584x425.png 584w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image75-768x559.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image75-1536x1117.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These examples indicate that the content standard, on the whole, is very&nbsp;low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the <strong>Referring Domains <\/strong>report, we can see some potentially dubious-looking links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"830\" height=\"1400\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image93.png\" alt=\"For Noob's Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154984\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image93.png 830w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image93-252x425.png 252w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image93-768x1295.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The same DR 81 site we saw linking to our second site also links to this website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"406\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image26-1.png\" alt=\"DR 81 site, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154986\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image26-1.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image26-1-680x138.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image26-1-768x156.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image26-1-1536x312.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At least two other sites in this list also seem suspicious. We will come back to these&nbsp;later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If we go back to <strong>Overview 2.0<\/strong> and switch to the \u201cReferring domains\u201d graph, we can see a significant increase in referring domains in December. This looks suspicious to&nbsp;me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1746\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image81.jpg\" alt=\"Referring domains and organic traffic graph, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image81.jpg 1746w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image81-556x425.jpg 556w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image81-768x587.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image81-1536x1174.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1746px) 100vw, 1746px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The huge spike is probably a red flag for Google\u2019s algorithm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As soon as the sharp increase in the graph starts to fall, we see a much more dramatic plunge in organic traffic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The fall in traffic also roughly aligns with the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">March 2022 Product Reviews Update<\/a>, so they could be connected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The final nails in the coffin for this site are the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">December HCU<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">December Link Spam Update<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1546\" height=\"948\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image21-2.jpg\" alt=\"Performance report organic traffic drop, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image21-2.jpg 1546w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image21-2-680x417.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image21-2-768x471.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image21-2-1536x942.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1546px) 100vw, 1546px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These updates appear to have killed the site completely, and now the organic traffic is flat-lining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. Undoubtedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"4. Bike Hike\" data-section=\"bike-hike\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Bike&nbsp;Hike<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1420\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-7.png\" alt=\"Bike Hike overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154991\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-7.png 1800w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-7-539x425.png 539w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-7-768x606.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image2-7-1536x1212.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on May 1, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Bike Hike received an estimated 1.3M organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>4,047,559 keywords, April&nbsp;2022&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>523,455 pages, April 2022<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 1.3M, April&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>When you come across a website called Bike Hike, you\u2019ll probably assume that it has something to do with bikes, cycling, or even hiking.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in this case\u2014you\u2019d be mistaken.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At its organic traffic peak, this site\u2019s top keyword was \u201cslurp fish.\u201d Make of that what you&nbsp;will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And here\u2019s a Twitter reaction to the&nbsp;site:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"842\" height=\"718\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image62.png\" alt=\"Tweet on website\n\" class=\"wp-image-154994\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image62.png 842w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image62-498x425.png 498w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image62-768x655.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This site used an expired domain and created People Also Ask (PAA) spam content. It also 301 redirected several expired domains with high DR to its domain.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s start by going to the <strong>Organic keywords<\/strong> report in Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a> and see what terms this site was ranking for at its&nbsp;peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1588\" height=\"1404\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image27.png\" alt=\"Organic keywords report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154995\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image27.png 1588w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image27-481x425.png 481w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image27-768x679.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image27-1536x1358.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1588px) 100vw, 1588px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the URL column, we can see that this is probably a People Also Ask (PAA) spam site\u2014as all ranking keywords appear to target these low <strong>Keyword Difficulty (KD) <\/strong>and<strong> <\/strong>unrelated<strong> <\/strong>PAA questions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s go further and filter the domains to include only those in position #1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1382\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image30.png\" alt=\"Organic keywords report filtered for domains in position #1, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-154996\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image30.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image30-615x425.png 615w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image30-768x531.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image30-1536x1062.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see that many PAA-style keywords held the top spot in Google in April 2022, near this site\u2019s peak.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say that none of these landing pages are on a consistent topic. And it seems they were designed to exploit Google\u2019s algorithm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at one of the pages, we can see that the content is never longer than four lines and is followed by a heading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1184\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image44.png\" alt=\"Potential no context scraped content \n\" class=\"wp-image-154998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image44.png 1400w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image44-503x425.png 503w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image44-768x650.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once we put a few lines of this content into Google search, we can see this content is likely scraped from multiple websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1516\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image47.png\" alt=\"Scraped content check, via Google.com\n\" class=\"wp-image-155000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image47.png 1516w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image47-680x305.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image47-768x344.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1516px) 100vw, 1516px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking through some of the other top-performing pages, we can also find they follow the same content format. I believe this site scraped PAA questions and answers from multiple websites for content and turned them into articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to links, one of the tactics used was to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 redirect<\/a> expired domains with bbc.co.uk (DR 93) links to its website.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see this in Ahrefs using the <strong>Backlinks<\/strong> report and adding a \u201cReferring page domain\u201d filter: bbc.co.uk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1931\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image53.jpg\" alt=\"High DR BBC domains redirected to Bike Hike, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image53.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image53-440x425.jpg 440w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image53-768x742.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image53-1536x1484.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the <strong>Anchor and target URL <\/strong>column, we can see that the ultimate destination for all these links is Bike Hike. This looks like an unnatural and unlikely pattern.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adding to this, the site was built on an expired domain. We can see this using the Wayback Machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"770\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image10-4.png\" alt=\"Bike Hike history, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155004\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image10-4.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image10-4-680x262.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image10-4-768x296.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image10-4-1536x592.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The site doesn\u2019t have a continuous history, and the most recent owners likely bought the site in&nbsp;2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s go back in time and see what it used to look&nbsp;like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1468\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-6.png\" alt=\"Bike Hike homepage, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155005\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-6.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-6-579x425.png 579w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-6-768x564.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image4-6-1536x1128.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bike Hike 2018 looks like it had something to do with cycling. From what I can see, it used to be a legitimate site. So it seems that the recent owners of the domain revived it to exploit this site\u2019s past authority and&nbsp;links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The sharp fall of this site\u2019s organic traffic graph looks like a site hit with a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/manual-action\">manual action<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> The only way to confirm if there is a manual action is to check the site\u2019s Google Search Console. As we don\u2019t have access to this, we can only speculate that this happened based on the sharp drop in the organic traffic graph.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. (Once a site receives a manual action, it\u2019s usually game&nbsp;over.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"5. Asia Work\" data-section=\"asia-work\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Asia&nbsp;Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1750\" height=\"1446\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image43.png\" alt=\"Overview of Asia Work, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-155007\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image43.png 1750w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image43-514x425.png 514w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image43-768x635.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image43-1536x1269.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1750px) 100vw, 1750px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on March 29, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Asia Work received an estimated 720K organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1,397 keywords,<strong> <\/strong>March 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>957 pages, March&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 664.6K, March&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>From the domain name alone, it feels like this site could be a legitimate business. But as you\u2019ll see, when we look at the content and the links on the site, it becomes clear that this website has changed from its original intended purpose.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are examples of paid link placements on the blog, and it looks like the site is trying to rank for betting login&nbsp;pages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to links, there are also a few suspicious ones there. When it comes to content, it appears to not be the best either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s start by looking at the history of this domain through the Wayback Machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"611\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image89-1.png\" alt=\"Asia Work history, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155009\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image89-1.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image89-1-680x208.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image89-1-768x235.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image89-1-1536x469.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The history of this website looks continuous back to 2008\u20132009, but the domain expired around August 17,&nbsp;2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"543\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image58.png\" alt=\"Domain expiration, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155011\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image58.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image58-680x185.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image58-768x209.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image58-1536x417.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is how the site used to look in 2009. Even though the design is old-fashioned, it still looks much more legitimate than the present site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1388\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image72.png\" alt=\"Asia Work homepage 2009, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image72.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image72-612x425.png 612w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image72-768x533.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image72-1536x1067.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see the difference if we compare that with the current site version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1313\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image38.jpg\" alt=\"Asia Work homepage 2022, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155015\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image38.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image38-647x425.jpg 647w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image38-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image38-1536x1009.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though the images aren\u2019t rendered properly, we can see how the text content has changed for the&nbsp;worse.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the focus of the content changing to topics like \u201ccasino,\u201d \u201cgambling,\u201d and \u201cloans,\u201d this immediately looks like a red&nbsp;flag.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at some of the articles on the site to see what we can&nbsp;find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1231\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image57.jpg\" alt=\"Potential paid link example\n\" class=\"wp-image-155017\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image57.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image57-680x419.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image57-768x473.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image57-1536x946.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Selling links is against <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/blog\/2007\/12\/information-about-buying-and-selling\">Google\u2019s terms of service<\/a>. But the above is an example of a link that was probably paid for, with no attempt to hide&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s another example\u2014this time for a different type of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1604\" height=\"1432\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image56.png\" alt=\"Potential paid link example\n\" class=\"wp-image-155019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image56.png 1604w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image56-476x425.png 476w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image56-768x686.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image56-1536x1371.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1604px) 100vw, 1604px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can see the pattern that is emerging.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It turns out that almost every article in the blog has a single exact-match keyword anchor text link within a body of text, which leads me to believe that links were likely being sold&nbsp;here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final nail in the coffin is the website categories\u2014when you see dating, loan, and casino in the same category as SEO, you know that it\u2019s likely links were sold&nbsp;here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1208\" height=\"1562\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image41.png\" alt=\"List of categories\" class=\"wp-image-155021\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image41.png 1208w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image41-329x425.png 329w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image41-768x993.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image41-1188x1536.png 1188w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1208px) 100vw, 1208px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we turn our attention to the <strong>Top pages<\/strong> report in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>, we can see that one of the primary purposes of the site was to rank for login pages of betting and cockfighting sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1123\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image17-7.png\" alt=\"Asia Work's Top pages report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155023\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image17-7.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image17-7-680x382.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image17-7-768x431.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image17-7-1536x863.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows the website\u2019s intent and doesn\u2019t look like a typical website\u2019s top&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As we have seen above, the site is an expired domain that has been revived, so it has gained a decent amount of links and authority in that period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look at the <strong>Referring domains<\/strong> report, we can see the type of high DR links that this site once&nbsp;had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image54.png\" alt=\"Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155024\" width=\"570\" height=\"1142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image54.png 760w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image54-212x425.png 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of a directory link (DR 72) from a website called the Link Centre.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1606\" height=\"912\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image13-7.png\" alt=\"Example of a DR 72 directory link\n\" class=\"wp-image-155025\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image13-7.png 1606w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image13-7-680x386.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image13-7-768x436.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image13-7-1536x872.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1606px) 100vw, 1606px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s another example of a DR 72 website with a non-related link to our website on the profile page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"691\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image94.png\" alt=\"DR 72 link with non-related link\n\" class=\"wp-image-155026\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image94.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image94-680x235.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image94-768x265.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image94-1536x531.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With two university links in the top <strong>Referring domains <\/strong>report, you wonder whether these were compromised sites as&nbsp;well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking a look at <strong>Overview 2.0,<\/strong> we can see that there were two critical Google updates in this period.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image50.png\" alt=\"Close-up of Performance graph, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155164\" width=\"590\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image50.png 982w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image50-474x425.png 474w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image50-768x688.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first is the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">Product Reviews Update<\/a>, which occurred on March 23, 2022. The second is the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">May 2022 Core Update<\/a>. Although there isn\u2019t an exact correlation here, these updates could have impacted the&nbsp;site.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As I suspect they were selling paid links, this could have been another factor. But the gradual fall of the organic traffic chart doesn\u2019t align with the typical look of a manual penalty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The website didn\u2019t reach the heights of some of our other sites mentioned here, but it did manage to fool Google for around a&nbsp;month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The site hasn\u2019t been resurrected since, so it\u2019s fair to say that it didn\u2019t fool Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"6. Fmsppl\" data-section=\"fmsppl\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Fmsppl<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1966\" height=\"1424\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image24-3.png\" alt=\"Fmsppl overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-155145\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image24-3.png 1966w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image24-3-587x425.png 587w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image24-3-768x556.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image24-3-1536x1113.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1966px) 100vw, 1966px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on August 22, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Fmsppl received an estimated 63,880 organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>33,679 keywords, August 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>26,844 pages, August 2022<a href=\"https:\/\/app.ahrefs.com\/v2-site-explorer\/top-pages\/subdomains?chartGranularity=daily&amp;chartInterval=all&amp;chartMode=perf&amp;compareDate=dontCompare&amp;competitorsSource=traffic&amp;country=all&amp;currentDate=2022-08-31&amp;limit=100&amp;offset=0&amp;sort=trafficInitial&amp;sortDirection=desc&amp;target=fmsppl.com%2F&amp;volume_type=monthly\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 59.1K, August 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This next website was created by someone who hated vowels in their domain names.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main idea behind the site seems to have been to create a database-driven site targeting \u201cpeople named [insert name]\u201d searches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we add an \u201cInclude\u201d filter into <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keyword-generator\">Keywords Explorer<\/a>, we can see a lot of low-competition searches for this type of query, almost 22,000. This is probably why they decided to create a site around this particular topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1421\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-7.png\" alt=\"Include filter for &quot;people named,&quot; via Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155031\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-7.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-7-598x425.png 598w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-7-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image5-7-1536x1092.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the problems with this site is that most of the content was scraped, and it had several dodgy high DR links pointing to it that didn\u2019t look natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>If we go to the <strong>Top pages<\/strong> report on August 19, we can see that the top page is \u201cPeople named&nbsp;Dick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1338\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image61-1.png\" alt=\"Top pages report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-155146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image61-1.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image61-1-635x425.png 635w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image61-1-768x514.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image61-1-1536x1028.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at what this page looks like on the&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1341\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image19-3.png\" alt=\"Famous people named Dick\n\" class=\"wp-image-155034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image19-3.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image19-3-634x425.png 634w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image19-3-768x515.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image19-3-1536x1030.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can see there isn\u2019t that much information here, and most of the content is&nbsp;ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even when we scroll down the page, we can see that it\u2019s a list of people with some key facts about them and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1784\" height=\"1202\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image67.jpg\" alt=\"Dick Cheney profile\n\" class=\"wp-image-155035\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image67.jpg 1784w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image67-631x425.jpg 631w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image67-768x517.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image67-1536x1035.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1784px) 100vw, 1784px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve decided to click on the profile of the number #1 Dick\u2014Dick Cheney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pasting the text of his detailed profile in Google brings up a match for Wikipedia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1532\" height=\"620\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image65.png\" alt=\"Quick copy check in Google search, via Google.com\n\" class=\"wp-image-155036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image65.png 1532w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image65-680x275.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image65-768x311.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1532px) 100vw, 1532px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Checking a few other profiles on the site using this method also brings up Wikipedia, so it seems reasonable to conclude that this site was scraping at least some of its content directly from Wikipedia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Returning to the homepage, you can see the general strategy of the site is quite basic. This is what the site owners did for country selectors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"1999\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image91.jpg\" alt=\"Country selectors homepage\n\" class=\"wp-image-155037\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image91.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image91-403x425.jpg 403w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image91-768x810.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image91-1457x1536.jpg 1457w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And when it came to birth years, they did something similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1903\" height=\"1999\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image49.png\" alt=\"Famous people by birth years\n\" class=\"wp-image-155038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image49.png 1903w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image49-405x425.png 405w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image49-768x807.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image49-1462x1536.png 1462w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1903px) 100vw, 1903px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the content standard is low, and we see a lot of scraped content on this&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the Wayback Machine, we can see this is a relatively new site that was started around 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1700\" height=\"804\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image34-1.png\" alt=\"Fmsppl history, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image34-1.png 1700w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image34-1-680x322.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image34-1-768x363.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image34-1-1536x726.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can assume that it needs some powerful links to get this site off the ground.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several suspicious high DR links linking to this&nbsp;site.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To look at them, we can jump into the <strong>Referring domains<\/strong> report. I\u2019ve chosen to take a quick look at the DR 82 link, but there are many examples of high DR links with spammy content here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1370\" height=\"1238\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image66.png\" alt=\"DR 82 link in Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155041\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image66.png 1370w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image66-470x425.png 470w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image66-768x694.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1370px) 100vw, 1370px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of a DR 82 website linking to this website, and this is what one of the links looks&nbsp;like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1476\" height=\"1999\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image25-2.jpg\" alt=\"DR 82 link \n\" class=\"wp-image-155042\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image25-2.jpg 1476w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image25-2-314x425.jpg 314w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image25-2-768x1040.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image25-2-1134x1536.jpg 1134w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1476px) 100vw, 1476px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cOK, Google, is this great content?\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We have just scratched the surface here, but it\u2019s likely that this is not an isolated case. It\u2019s probably fair to say that this looks like a website designed to exploit search engines rather than inform people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The website appears to have been hit by two Google updates. With neither the content nor the links being that great, I can\u2019t say I am surprised.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe that this site was hit by the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">August 2022 Helpful Content Update<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">October 2022 Spam Update<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Even after the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">October Spam Update<\/a> appears to have crushed the site, it seems there was an attempt to build more links to the&nbsp;site.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1832\" height=\"1404\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-7.png\" alt=\"Fmsppl organic traffic and referring domains details, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-7.png 1832w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-7-555x425.png 555w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-7-768x589.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image9-7-1536x1177.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1832px) 100vw, 1832px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. I imagine this site\u2019s traffic will be flat-lining shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"7. YT5S\" data-section=\"yt5s\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. YT5S<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1866\" height=\"1442\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image23-3.png\" alt=\"YT5S overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155045\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image23-3.png 1866w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image23-3-550x425.png 550w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image23-3-768x593.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image23-3-1536x1187.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1866px) 100vw, 1866px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">On October 21, 2021, Ahrefs reported that YT5S received an estimated 20,018,059 organic traffic at its&nbsp;peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>22,852 keywords, October 2021<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>195 pages, October 2021<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 8.3M,<strong> <\/strong>October 2021<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This website allows users to download YouTube videos by simply entering a URL and then hitting the download button\u2014you can see why this type of website would be popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The website used an interesting tactic to stay at the top of the search results and try to fool Google repeatedly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The murky world of YouTube download sites is often filled with ads, surveys, and random floating buttons.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>YT5S is, by contrast, a fairly minimal site, which may be how it became popular early&nbsp;on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1558\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image39.png\" alt=\"YT5S homepage\n\" class=\"wp-image-155047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image39.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image39-545x425.png 545w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image39-768x599.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image39-1536x1197.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to content for a YouTube download site, there usually isn\u2019t much on the page\u2014this site doesn\u2019t have a blog, for example.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So its main focus is on content to assist people in downloading YouTube videos. Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo-toolbar\">SEO Toolbar<\/a> shows us it has just 818 words on the page. Not a&nbsp;lot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1328\" height=\"1096\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image35.jpg\" alt=\"YT5S content, via Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar\" class=\"wp-image-155049\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image35.jpg 1328w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image35-515x425.jpg 515w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image35-768x634.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1328px) 100vw, 1328px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look at its <strong>Site structure <\/strong>report, we can see that there are many subfolders with numbers at the&nbsp;end.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"958\" height=\"822\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image32.png\" alt=\"Site structure; subfolders list, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155051\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image32.png 958w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image32-495x425.png 495w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image32-768x659.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 958px) 100vw, 958px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Clicking on the <strong>en<\/strong> variations often results in pages that are 301 redirected to the latest version.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As this is such a competitive industry, certain subdomains will get penalized for various reasons. When a subdomain loses traffic, it will be redirected to a new number subfolder.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see a pattern emerging if we overlap the organic traffic charts for each subfolder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1716\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/10-websites-that-tried-to-fool-google.png\" alt=\"Average organic traffic of YT5S subdomains\" class=\"wp-image-155142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/10-websites-that-tried-to-fool-google.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/10-websites-that-tried-to-fool-google-396x425.png 396w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/10-websites-that-tried-to-fool-google-768x824.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/10-websites-that-tried-to-fool-google-1432x1536.png 1432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The above shows the diminishing success rate of redirects to different subfolders over&nbsp;time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The site\u2019s owners appear to be 301 redirecting the entire website to a new subfolder once the old subfolder has lost traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This site is not alone in this tactic. Looking at the <strong>Position history<\/strong> in Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Keywords Explorer<\/a>, we can see that some of the other websites in this category have cottoned on to this strategy and are doing a similar thing, judging by some of the names of the subfolders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"758\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image69.png\" alt=\"Position history, via Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155055\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image69.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image69-680x258.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image69-768x291.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image69-1536x582.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>With a site on this topic, it will be shared widely and linked to naturally. Most of the links appear to be relatively natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The cut-throat nature of this SERP means that it\u2019s highly competitive. The site owners thought they had found a way to get around the loss in traffic by redirecting the website into a new subfolder. It worked for a while. But over time, the impact diminished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, for now. But this method will continue being used to try and fool Google in the short&nbsp;term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"8. Board Games Tips\" data-section=\"board-games-tips\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8. Board Games&nbsp;Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1786\" height=\"1442\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image77-1.png\" alt=\"Board Games Tips overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image77-1.png 1786w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image77-1-526x425.png 526w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image77-1-768x620.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image77-1-1536x1240.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1786px) 100vw, 1786px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on January 16, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Board Game Tips received an estimated 3,934,996 organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>6,355,904 keywords, January 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>694,334 pages, January 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 3.9M, January 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In case you were wondering, this site didn\u2019t have much to do with board game&nbsp;tips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite this, it reached 3.9 million organic traffic during its peak through low-quality content and some dubious-looking high DR&nbsp;links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems to have taken PAA scraping to the extreme, sometimes veering way off topic in the process on some of the&nbsp;posts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From my research, it also had some suspicious-looking links from some unlikely sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Using the<strong> Top pages <\/strong>report, we can look at some of the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s highlight a section of the \u201cOrganic traffic\u201d graph to select the top pages between two&nbsp;dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"804\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image64-1.gif\" alt=\"Board Game Tips's Top pages report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155059\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s click through to the Wayback Machine again and take a look at one of the URLs. (I\u2019ve picked a random URL with Wayback history.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image83.png\" alt=\"Board Game Tips's table of contents, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155060\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image83.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image83-553x425.png 553w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image83-768x590.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image83-1536x1180.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even from the table of contents, we can see that this is PAA spam. The subheadings wildly switch from deploying parachutes to shotguns, tasers, and&nbsp;guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scrolling down the page further, we get the familiar three or four lines of text followed by a heading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1702\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image11-4.png\" alt=\"PAA-style content, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155061\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image11-4.png 1702w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image11-4-502x425.png 502w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image11-4-768x650.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image11-4-1536x1300.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1702px) 100vw, 1702px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we paste the content into Google, we can understand whether it\u2019s scraped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1252\" height=\"542\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image28.png\" alt=\"Pasting the content into Google to see if it is copied, via Google.com\n\" class=\"wp-image-155063\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image28.png 1252w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image28-680x294.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image28-768x332.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1252px) 100vw, 1252px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It looks to me like this answer came from this&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turning to Twitter, we can see that we are not the only people to have discovered this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FrfuFPdFu0\">https:\/\/t.co\/FrfuFPdFu0<\/a> should stop plagiarizing from other sites whose own stuff is wrong. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FrfuFPdFu0\">https:\/\/t.co\/FrfuFPdFu0<\/a> just spreads more incorrect data that way. Internet is going backward to 1996! I thought all that copying mistakes was&nbsp;over.<\/p>\u2014 Sharon Chancer (@sharonchancer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sharonchancer\/status\/1410415969416015872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1,&nbsp;2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I\u2019ve discovered a new type of website<br>It badly copies answers to similar sounding questions from other forum websites and combines them into one FAQ, but sometimes the questions have nothing to do with eachother<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fkAIpRMvUX\">https:\/\/t.co\/fkAIpRMvUX<\/a> like&nbsp;this<\/p>\u2014 shockwave\u2019s fat fucking monoboob (@memerath) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/memerath\/status\/1482015445943132163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 14,&nbsp;2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can conclude then that the content standard for this site is again incredibly low. But it was enough to fool Google at one&nbsp;point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a horror show of links from this&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our old friend, Grid Server (DR 82), is linking to the site&nbsp;again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image55.jpg\" alt=\"DR 82 link in Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155065\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image55.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image55-680x201.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image55-768x227.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image55-1536x453.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s another reference to a broken link to this DR 81 domain, which you may remember from earlier on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1517\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image85.png\" alt=\"Board Games Tips's Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155067\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image85.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image85-560x425.png 560w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image85-768x583.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image85-1536x1166.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, here\u2019s a dubious-looking link from an unlikely source\u2014Swansea University (UK) (DR74). It\u2019s one of the domains we saw also linking to our third website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1306\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image76.png\" alt=\"DR 74 link, via Swansea University\n\" class=\"wp-image-155069\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image76.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image76-651x425.png 651w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image76-768x502.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image76-1536x1004.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Should these other academic sites be concerned?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1390\" height=\"1248\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image96.png\" alt=\".ac. domains filtered, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155070\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image96.png 1390w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image96-473x425.png 473w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image96-768x690.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1390px) 100vw, 1390px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Referring domains filtered for domain name containing \u201c.ac.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This site has it all\u2014bad links and scraped content. As the organic traffic drop doesn\u2019t tie in with any specific <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">Google algorithm updates<\/a>, the website may have received a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/google-penalty\">manual penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. The site owners tried to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/301-redirect\">301 redirect<\/a> their old domain to a new domain. Looking at the new domain in <strong>Overview 2.0,<\/strong> we see that the new website worked for a while and likely got hit again by a few other updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1958\" height=\"1520\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image70.png\" alt=\"Your Games Tips overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155072\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image70.png 1958w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image70-547x425.png 547w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image70-768x596.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image70-1536x1192.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1958px) 100vw, 1958px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The new version of the site started to fall following the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">September 2022 Core Update<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">October 2022 Spam Update<\/a> seems to have accelerated the traffic drop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"9. Answers To All\" data-section=\"answers-to-all\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9. Answers To&nbsp;All<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1782\" height=\"1452\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image51.png\" alt=\"Answer To All overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155074\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image51.png 1782w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image51-522x425.png 522w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image51-768x626.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image51-1536x1252.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1782px) 100vw, 1782px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">At its peak, on March 13, 2022, Ahrefs reported that Answers To All received an estimated 2,214,447 organic traffic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>4,046,226 keywords, April&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>911,725 pages, April&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 1.9M, April&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This next website only lasted for a few months, but it did fairly well considering the standard of content and the type of links it&nbsp;had.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As the name suggests, this was a low-quality PAA spam site. It also had some dubious links pointing to it. When the site tanked, the site owners tried to 301 redirect it to a new name, but that site also had issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>You can probably guess what type of content this will be with a name like this. Let\u2019s look at one of the pages to see how bad it&nbsp;is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1942\" height=\"1488\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image92.png\" alt=\"Answers To All content, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155075\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image92.png 1942w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image92-555x425.png 555w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image92-768x588.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image92-1536x1177.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1942px) 100vw, 1942px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve seen quite a few of these examples. But if I paste the first two lines of content into Google, we can see that this is likely scraped from&nbsp;Quora.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1542\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image73.png\" alt=\"Scraped content check, via Google.com\n\" class=\"wp-image-155077\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image73.png 1542w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image73-680x253.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image73-768x286.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image73-1536x572.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1542px) 100vw, 1542px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The flow of the content on the page follows the familiar pattern of two or three lines of text followed by a subheading. Scrolling down the page, we see the topics become less related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1934\" height=\"1452\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image22-2.png\" alt=\"PAA spam content example, via Wayback Machine\n\" class=\"wp-image-155079\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image22-2.png 1934w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image22-2-566x425.png 566w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image22-2-768x577.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image22-2-1536x1153.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1934px) 100vw, 1934px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Checking a few other pages, I see the content has also been lifted from other sites. It\u2019s relatively safe to assume that this is another PAA spam&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at links, we see a few of the same culprits again.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swansea University\u2019s website is back, along with 38 other academic domains.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"962\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-8.png\" alt=\"Suspect link, via Swansea University\n\" class=\"wp-image-155080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-8.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-8-680x327.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-8-768x370.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image7-8-1536x739.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\u2019t check them all, but they could likely be spam. Some more familiar faces in the links department include our favorite DR 81 website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"962\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image12-5.png\" alt=\"Potential spam link\n\" class=\"wp-image-155081\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image12-5.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image12-5-680x327.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image12-5-768x370.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image12-5-1536x739.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as Grid Server\u2019s DR 82&nbsp;links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"952\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image86-1.jpg\" alt=\"Potential spam link\n\" class=\"wp-image-155082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image86-1.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image86-1-680x324.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image86-1-768x366.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image86-1-1536x732.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems reasonably clear that this activity is not normal and may be designed to manipulate rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the <strong>Overview 2.0\u2019s \u201c<\/strong>Performance\u201d<strong> <\/strong>graph, we see that the drop in organic traffic occurred before the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">May 2022 Core Update<\/a><strong>.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1944\" height=\"884\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image78.png\" alt=\"Performance overview zoomed in, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image78.png 1944w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image78-680x309.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image78-768x349.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image78-1536x698.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1944px) 100vw, 1944px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This update may have contributed to the drop, but it doesn\u2019t appear as though it is the main reason.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s clear from this quick analysis that bad links and poor content are present. It may be likely that this site received a manual action for its links, although it\u2019s impossible to confirm this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. I can\u2019t see any way back for this&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"10. Mce Zone\" data-section=\"mce-zone\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">10. Mce&nbsp;Zone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1840\" height=\"1420\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image48.png\" alt=\"MCE Zone overview, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155086\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image48.png 1840w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image48-551x425.png 551w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image48-768x593.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image48-1536x1185.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1840px) 100vw, 1840px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">On April 25, 2022, Ahrefs reported that MCE Zone received an estimated 10,838,951 organic traffic at its&nbsp;peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key stats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>79,543 keywords, April&nbsp;2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1,204 pages, April&nbsp;2022&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total traffic: 5.2M,<strong> <\/strong>April 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This website describes itself as the \u201cworld\u2019s best news site\u201d\u2014a bold&nbsp;claim.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sadly though, it doesn\u2019t appear to have the content or the links to back up this&nbsp;claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It mainly focused on providing information to the Indian market about popular movie torrent sites.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it came to fooling Google, it used suspicious-looking links combined with fairly low-quality content that was just about good enough to fool Google for a short period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Going to the <strong>Top pages<\/strong> report in Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>, we can see everything\u2019s not right&nbsp;here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than providing news content, this site seems to contain content about movie torrent sites for the Indian market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the top-performing landing page that got an estimated 4,276,681 organic traffic on April&nbsp;25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1496\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image71.png\" alt=\"Mce Zone homepage\n\" class=\"wp-image-155088\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image71.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image71-568x425.png 568w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image71-768x575.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image71-1536x1150.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The top-performing page appears to be an instruction manual for downloading movies from this&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Running the text through an AI detection tool\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/gltr.io\/dist\/index.html\">GLTR<\/a>\u2014it seems from my tests that this content may be partially AI content or just badly translated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1534\" height=\"1606\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image37.png\" alt=\"AI content test, via GLTR\n\" class=\"wp-image-155089\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image37.png 1534w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image37-406x425.png 406w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image37-768x804.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image37-1467x1536.png 1467w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1534px) 100vw, 1534px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Either way, you\u2019ll probably agree it\u2019s not the type of content you would expect from the \u201cworld\u2019s best news&nbsp;site.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is low-quality content by most people\u2019s definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to links, I noticed the website has many Blogspot links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we go to the <strong>Anchors<\/strong> report and add the following settings, we can filter the Blogspot domain anchors. As they are all very specific, it seems likely that this was part of a low-quality link building campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1348\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image29.jpg\" alt=\"Blogspot domain in Anchors report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image29.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image29-630x425.jpg 630w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image29-768x518.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image29-1536x1036.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we click on the links to target for the second row and filter by <strong>Dofollow,<\/strong> we can see around 50 links with exactly the same, tediously long anchor text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1065\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image42.jpg\" alt=\"Exact match anchor text across many domains, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155091\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image42.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image42-680x362.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image42-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image42-1536x818.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, this type of link building doesn\u2019t look&nbsp;great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we head back to the <strong>Referring domains<\/strong> report, we can see Grid Server is mentioned again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image31.png\" alt=\"Grid Server mentioned in Referring domains report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155093\" width=\"536\" height=\"639\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image31.png 714w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image31-356x425.png 356w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, to top it off, it has a DR 67 link that redirected a domain into its domain from this site&nbsp;below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1934\" height=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image14-3.png\" alt=\"DR 67 website, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155095\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image14-3.png 1934w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image14-3-680x126.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image14-3-768x142.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image14-3-1536x284.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1934px) 100vw, 1934px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And here\u2019s what this site looks&nbsp;like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/J5vHmzlFD4odIlTZqX_1GSEaeh-UR5TAHaPya3cijtr46g9cWiPKYmGaN-GMslhYqefL5rD_DMl8NK52KhM15jEN_S4RcsMj6aSxAnSHlP32H7fznYiZV37KEmHWfM7_zpKD37lvgb_H6_EmBt2BAkg\" alt=\"DR 67 spam site\n\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did it&nbsp;fail?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at <strong>Overview 2.0, <\/strong>this site was probably hit by the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/google-algorithm-updates\">May 2022 Core Update<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1456\" height=\"954\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image90-1.png\" alt=\"Performance report zoomed in, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image90-1.png 1456w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image90-1-649x425.png 649w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image90-1-768x503.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1456px) 100vw, 1456px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Did it really fail to fool Google?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. Looking at the organic traffic, it\u2019s nowhere near the levels it used to be. The site isn\u2019t completely dead, but it\u2019s fair to say that it won\u2019t fool anyone in the future that it\u2019s the \u201cworld\u2019s best news&nbsp;site.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did you find these&nbsp;sites?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how we did it: Internally, we call this the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer\">Content Explorer<\/a> Hack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1146\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image36.jpg\" alt=\"Content Explorer hack, via Ahrefs' Content Explorer\n\" class=\"wp-image-155100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image36.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image36-680x390.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image36-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image36-1536x881.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer\">Content Explorer<\/a> and start an empty search<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go to the <strong>Websites<\/strong> tab<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Filter for high traffic and low&nbsp;DR<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we have seen, what Google can giveth, it can also taketh away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The methods used by these sites to rank in Google are obviously not replicable for businesses, and I don\u2019t suggest you try any of the methods above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many SEOs like to think that the days of paid links, trashy content, and shortcuts to ranking are long gone. But clearly, from these examples, it\u2019s still possible to get significant organic traffic by breaking the rules\u2014but only if you are willing to risk <em>everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Got more questions? Ping me <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chris_at_b449\">on Twitter<\/a>. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Here are 10 extraordinary examples of websites that failed to fool Google.&nbsp; Key stats&nbsp; Conch House is a review site that ranked for over 250,000 \u201cbest+[product]\u201d keywords and acquired 14,000 number #1 rankings.&nbsp; This huge rise in organic traffic<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[414,335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[437],"class_list":["post-154911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-studies","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>10 Websites That Tried to Fool Google (And Failed)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Attempting to fool Google carries massive risks. We look at 10 examples of websites that tried and failed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Websites That Tried to Fool Google (And Failed)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-16T06:47:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-18T03:06:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image33-1.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Haines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chris_at_b449\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Haines\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9afb394ccc6e0e19c199d26984a8b0b2\"},\"headline\":\"10 Websites That Tried to Fool Google (And Failed)\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-16T06:47:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-18T03:06:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":5713,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/10-websites-that-tried-to-fool-by-chris-haines-general-seo-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Data &amp; Studies\",\"General SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/\",\"name\":\"10 Websites That Tried to Fool Google (And Failed)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/websites-that-tried-to-fool-google\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/image33-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-16T06:47:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-18T03:06:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Attempting to fool Google carries massive risks. 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