Spam chongqing

When Blogger introduced a javascript powered "Links to this post" feature I thought that was a pretty well spam proof. Backlink would only show if they appear in Google's blog search, eliminating fake trackbacks. And they only appear for users, not search engines. There is no PageRank benifit from javascript powered backlinks. So either this spammer is stupid or he is just after hits.

I discovered this Laptop Review spammer while reading a post at the Official Google Blog. The links back to the Google post are included in two of his three post tags: "gateway, nx860, laptop." The first two both link to different posts at Google's blog as do some of his other posts.

Getting a backlink on a popular Google blog post can get you a bunch of hits, but it helps when the topic is similar. I link to them often when a new antispam feature is announced, the more relevant my post title is the more hits I get. A post on Gmail's new delete button and a post on health aren't at all related to laptop reviews. I also sometimes get a few hits by Google employees though the official blog backlinks, that doesn't seem like the correct audience for spamming.

It doesn't look like a splog at first glance, but you will see that the posts are reposted from other sources without attribution or link to the original source. Compare:

"ThinkPads to support Cingular 3G technology"
the review
at ZDNet

"Sony VAIO FE-Series"
the review
Sony's press release

"Dell Introduces XPS Renegade"
the review
at PCMag

This review blog is clearly not the usual splog, it appears to have human input in the posting of articles since occasionally there is a sentance or two added before the "borrowed" copy. Whatever it is, this blogger needs check out Plagiarism Today.

The site links back to Gadioc.com quite often including the footer and sidebar of the page. That site's content is very similar, but it links back to the original post (at least some of the time).