Scraper Sites are Good for You - Surrender Your Content

Search engines can't whack them fast enough. The scraper technology gets better and better. Some scrapers look like real websites, too. I have seen some scrapers that were so well done, they were actually useful.

Scrapers: There is Nothing You Can do About it
The scraper thing has gotten so far out of hand, that individual scraper sites are now sending targetted traffic that exceeds minor search engines like Ask Jeeves.

One webmaster reported to me that without doing any link development, his backlinks grew to around 40,000 links, with great anchor text, too. All this with no negative effect on traffic. I'll repeat: No negative effect on traffic.

Surrender to the Scrapers... It is Better for You
You remember the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The pod people admonish the humans to fall asleep and let them snatch your body, because life is so much better that way. I'm telling you the same thing. Scraper sites are good for you. Surrender your content.

Hold a wet finger to the wind. At most, scrapers do more good to you than harm. At worst, your quality of life suffers when you are constantly pulling your hair out worrying about scraper sites. Accept the scrapers, it is better for you this way. You will find extra time for improving and building bigger and better things.

Google and Yahoo Want to be Your Buddy

So Yahoo acquired a three person Palo Alto software company called Konfabulator. This company creates applications that live on your desktop and grab information, from stock quotes to the weather. What this deal does is helps you take any information available from Yahoo's properties and have it downloaded to your desktop. It's kind of like a butler crossed with a robot. Yahoo is going to allow third party developers create new useful applications for it. This is similar to what Google did with it's GoogleEarth.

Giving something away in order to receive traffic is an old strategy that works, and Yahoo made a great acquisition with this product. I'm going to play around with this. Lots of potential for fun.

Directories with a Kick Me Sign on Their Backs

• Directories that advertise themselves as Webmaster Resources
  Wait a minute, isn't the web surfer your constituent?
  
• Directories that have run of site casino links
  If quality counts for anything, why would a webmaster want to have their link sit on the same page as a casino link, much less on a site that links to casinos from every page?
  
• Interlinked directories with the same backlink
  Directories that are interlinked with similar directories created with the same script... all on the same server- and once you follow the PR trail, the mother page supplying the PR is a web host or web design company with a PR 6. Oh goody.
  
• Web Directories whose major categories consist of Home based businesses, casinos, credit repair, etc.
  
• Any directory that has a conspicuous category devoted to mesothelioma
  
• Any directory that has the word Links in the domain name
  
• A directory that has the word Webmaster in the domain name
  
• A directory that has SEO in it's domain name
  
• A directory that is built on the shoulders of an expired domain name
  
• A directory that has more than one category devoted to internet marketing
  
• Directories that have a majority of backlinks from the above directories

Just put them together and... rub
I'm not trying to make enemies, just saying that you have to think about the user, the real user. If directory owners reading this have two brain cells in their head, you might consider rubbing them together and getting a clue. There are already issues arising, according to some.

In my opinion the whole directory business has to think of new ways of doing things. In the recent past, directories have been promoted on seo blogs and forums because their constituents were primarily SEO Webmasters first, and SEO Webmasters second. In fact, if you read their "about" pages, it becomes obvious that these directories have no other constituents beyond SEO Webmasters.

Taking the Brain Cells Out for a little exercise
Let's whip out those two brain cells and rub them together: What do you imagine the search engine engineers would think about a directory that is marketed exclusively to webmasters? Aren't directories supposed to be useful to web surfers? Would the search engineers think that these directories were a scheme for helping SEO Webmasters manipulate their ranks? If so, what action do you think they would take?

It's time to rethink the directory business
The best directories that I know all focus on the web surfer. There are two models, and both of them focus on the web surfer, and it is precisely this focus that makes these directories useful to everybody.

1. Lead Generation
   There is no directory more useful to a webmaster than a directory that can deliver a lead. In order to deliver a lead, this directory must cultivate traffic. In order to cultivate traffic they must bring them in through organic ranking as well as PPC bidding.
   
   This is the model the major shopping comparison sites have been following for half a decade now. They are not shopping comparison sites, they are lead generation sites. And it's not just shopping comparison sites, this model extends to the business to business area, too. There are a few high level directories catering to the Boeings and the Pepsi's that do well delivering leads to B2B businesses.
   
   If B2B and B2C lead delivery makes millions of dollars, why are SEO Webmasters busy circle jerking each other for a few thousand here and there?
   
   
2. A directory that is good for the user
   Here's a novel idea: How about a directory that has really cool websites listed for free? Ever IM with a friend or read a forum, and they drop a link to a really cool website you have never heard of before? Why not a directory that is full of links that lead to really cool websites the users enjoy visiting?
   
   Any directory that recreates the joy of discovery is a winner. A characteristic of major blogs is that they point you to really cool shit on the web. Then people link to you because you actually have something to say. Then you are ranking and have visitors. It's important to cultivate the visitors, as your directory will have something of value.
   
   One of the most obvious failings of 99% of the directories out there is that they have poor optimization and do what they do exactly like everyone else does. It's the same fucking thing over and over, like Charles Bukowski's dreaded green trees on a long road trip to Washington state: "Green trees, green trees, green trees, green trees... Enough already, goddamit!"
   
   Can we rub two brain cells together and put some content on those goddam directory pages so you rank in the search engines? Even ------- screwed up and built yet another green tree directory with no indexable content beyond its lame links, with no out of the box SEO to bring in web surfers, and it brought no new thinking to the directory model... it was Dead on Arrival the moment they opened their doors for business.
   
   Can we rub two brain cells together and rethink this thing we call a directory? It really needs an overhaul.

Ian Turner has been Found!

Ian Turner has been located in Atlanta.
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum19/2749.htm