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How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

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Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#61

Post by dangrossman »

aptwebapps wrote: post #44
ecopoesis wrote: post #36

This isn't paid linking-- it's an affiliate/referral program. Expedia isn't paying for the link, they're paying for the conversions generated by the link. Every OTA does this, and it's how the mass of travel sites that aren't OTAs make all their money. This is all Google's fault. Most travel sites used to try to generate good content, and then buy SEM to their content and use OTA search widgets to monetize via affili…

I didn't believe that until it occurred to me that they could be using the http referrer to reward the affiliates. The links themselves don't seem to contain an affiliate identifier. Is that the case?

There's no major affiliate/referral program that uses HTTP referrers to assign commissions. No affiliate would agree to such a system as they'd not be paid for tons of valid referrals.

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#62

Post by dangrossman »

ecopoesis wrote: post #52
aptwebapps wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't believe that until it occurred to me that they could be using the http referrer to reward the affiliates. The links themselves don't seem to contain an affiliate identifier. Is that the case?

Usually there is an iframe that drops a cookie on Expedia's (or whoever's) domain. The usual deal is the partner gets paid on any conversions within 30 days of dropping the cookie, with the newest affiliate winning, but there are also more complicated source attribution schemes out there.

That's not "usual" at all. That kind of cookie stuffing is banned by every major affiliate network. A couple people are in federal prison for doing it with the eBay affiliate program.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-the-fbi-shawn-hogan-and-...

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#63

Post by dpatrick86 »

lisp-and-seo wrote: post #27

It is very simple: Expedia is paying over a billion $ annually for ads, Google is giving them a buy one, get one free deal. Google is only having "SEO scheme" problems with freeloaders, like RapGenius. To site Wikipedia: "Don't be evil" was the informal corporate motto (or slogan) of Google. Key word here is was.

This is what you get when you take the shortcut of moving away from a strict algorithmic ranking: obvious abuse of prosecutorial discretion.

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#64

Post by cowardlyanon »

I used to own and run two popular travel sites and have been contacted by a third party to place Expedia links for under $400/year on both sites.

Even though the third party had nothing to do with Expedia (besides emailing me the particular anchor text and URL), the fact that I was only ever contacted to put Expedia links and no other sites in the 5 years I've been running them made me think that they were Expedia shills.

(this is obviously a throw away account)

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#65

Post by davemel37 »

MichaelTieso wrote: post #60

Just a few emails I usually get from Expedia. "In fact, the article can be about any topic related to your blog, just mentioning at some point something like “find coupon codes for Expedia”, “get some deals in Expedia”.. Do you think that would fit in? Doesn’t have to look very spammy (we don’t want that either). What do you think? About the price, how much would it be a post like this with maybe 2 links? " AND "I’m…

If this is accurate it is a very poor seo and Expedia needs to hire better folks. Why place two links? Google will barely count a second link on the same page to the same URL...

I did notice that they give the blogger discretion on the link placement and anchor text so its somewhat natural...although still clearly link spam worth penalizing!

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#66

Post by hkmurakami »

davemel37 wrote: post #49
hkmurakami wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if the govt pages continue to link to these newly reborn link spam pages, certainly these expired domains have higher link value than a brand new fresh domain?

you are mistaken. This was the case until about 2008 or so... here is a quote from matt cutts. "On expired domains, Matt said Google tries to reset pagerank/links for all expired domains to zero when they are registered by someone new. They don’t try to penalize the expired domain, but they also don’t want to give credit for the previous owner’s links." http://www.seo.com/blog/conferences/matt-cutts-does-domain-r...

Thanks for the correction! :)

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#67

Post by thinkzig »

davemel37 wrote: post #40
pdeuchler wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really don't want to take my word for it, Google explicitly states how the links that TFA addressed are clearly in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines : https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356 "Here are a few common examples of unnatural links that violate our guidelines..." (3rd bullet point)

I dont see any evidence that this was a large scale effort. As another poster pointed out as well, these might be affiliate links dropped by a widget like skimlinks,etc...

If only there was a way to check and see if these links were generated by a widget and not actually part of the article's HTML.

Oh wait... there is!

Viewing the source from the "6 of the Most Enjoyable Theme Parks in the Nation" [1] article referenced in the parent article shows that the phrase "guaranteed best price on airfare" indeed is a straight link to Expedia.

[1] - http://www.cheaptravelblog.net/6-of-the-most-enjoyable-theme...

[2] - http://i.imgur.com/gGoo9jL.png

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#69

Post by Danieru »

bdcravens wrote: post #18

So an SEO "firm" (around since 2010, but their domain was registered in November?) is exposing secrets of SEO, which they imply is the secret sauce to getting to the top. What's the end game?

Matt Cutts has said Google is trying to break Blackhat SEO's spirits. That tactic appears to be working and this post is a result of that. The author is not trying to build their brand or position themselves. Rather they are sad and angry. To them the situation feels unfair and they want to make the big abusers feel the same pain they've experienced.

Re: How Expedia Buys Its Way To The Top Of Google

#70

Post by girvo »

davemel37 wrote: post #23
hvass wrote: post #5

I am a bit confused about the argument about Expedia not being penalized because they are spending on AdWords, wouldn't great organic rankings reduce their paid budget? And if Google penalizes them for legitimate reasons I doubt they would cut their AdWords budget. I am sure Matt will provide more info soon especially after what happened to RapGenius.

Google did research that shows having organic rankings and paid ads, boosts your click rate significantly. So, it would be a mistake to stop advertising if you rank well organically. http://www.google.com/think/infographics/organic-impact-on-p... This is nothing compared to what RapGenius did. This is a low quality, but legit link building tactic. The author claims the articles are poor quality, but they aren't. The…

Why is this legit? It seems bullshit to me, as an outsider, just another way if gaming the system.
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