jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 04/29/2004 12:52 pm
Garris you should really email me. I have a list of sites that were pulled from google due to Traffic Power. So far we are up to 16. A few of us are trying to organize something - not sure what yet, but I have spoken with someone at the Nevada District Attorneys Office.
I was told I'd receive a refund - and that my posts on this site are being turned over to their attorney. I haven't received a refund but have disputed the charges with my cc company.
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scottfla
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
# Posts: 354
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Posted: 04/29/2004 01:13 pm
jennid: "Traffic Power and the changes they made to your sites are definitely the reason you were dropped from google."
"I have a list of sites that were pulled from google due to Traffic Power."
How do you know for sure? Did Google inform you of such?
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 04/29/2004 01:16 pm
Here is the google response:
"Your page has been blocked from our index because it does not meet the quality standards necessary to assign
accurate PageRank. Certain actions such as cloaking, writing text in such a way that it can be seen by search engines but not by users, or setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may
result in permanent removal from our index."
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scottfla
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
# Posts: 354
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Posted: 04/29/2004 02:03 pm
That'll do it.
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 04/30/2004 05:42 am
Besides the google response, most of us have more than one domain, and in each and every case, the only domain that is pulled from google is the domain that was traffic powered.
For those of you reading this post that are not sure of the severity of what I am talking about, let me make some facts clear. I am not talking about pages going from #3 to #10,003. The sites affected have been manually removed from google - we have NO rankings. And we are all finding it very difficult to become relisted. Some of us were back in for a week or so, and then pulled back out the following week. Most all sites are suffering a large loss of revenue and we all curse the moment we hired these guys. The biggest financial loss isn't the money paid to Traffic Power, it's the resulting loss of revenue from having our sites pulled.
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seorox
Joined: Apr 30, 2004
# Posts: 1
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Posted: 04/30/2004 12:10 pm
If you're interested in finding more sites that have Traffic Power, search Google for the following: "Thank you for your quick response...it says a lot about who you are as a merchant." Make sure to use quotes around the search query. So much for those "unique content" pages, right?
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scottfla
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
# Posts: 354
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Posted: 04/30/2004 02:17 pm
seorox: Welcome to the forums. Looks as if they've been pretty busy. Good observation.
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 04/30/2004 02:58 pm
Seorox - I ran that search last week and came up with over 18,000 pages. Now there are just above 6,000. Interesting....Thanks.
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putontop_com
Joined: Apr 18, 2004
# Posts: 19
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Posted: 05/01/2004 07:55 am
Hi. Just a comment. I guess Google sets all the rules now. Interesting to see how all of us do whatever Google says. Isn't it time this monopoly ends? It's comparable to MSoft - you do what they say or you can't play with your computer?
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scottfla
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
# Posts: 354
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Posted: 05/01/2004 08:02 am
putontop_com: That's one way to look at it, I guess the other would be that they're providing a free service to market our products. We don't have to use it. I think I'm somewhere in the middle.
This thread refers to tactics that are a little over the top and easy to implement. If the effects not mitigated than every weekend warrior will be employing similar to get every Joe's hardware (nothing personal Joe) to the top when people are looking for regional distributors of hammers.
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garris
Joined: Apr 23, 2004
# Posts: 15
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Posted: 05/03/2004 04:50 pm
jennid, I will send you an email (if I can figure out how <grin> )
Google responded to me to let me know that my site was indexed.
Now here's what's strange: the day before I punched in my website's URL and it was a no show. Then they email me back and I am in again.
My guess is that their polite reply was because of my abject apology and humble repentance -- almost as if it was an unspoken grace that got me back in.
Hey, whaddya gonna do?
My fight with TrafficPower has not yet begun, but it will as soon as they find out that the debit card I used has been cancelled. That's when I will need to join forces with you.
As for Google being the 10,000 lb gorilla, that's how life goes ... until the next 10,000 lb gorilla comes to knock them off. Us? We're just pawns of the game. They make the rules. If ya wanna play, ya gotta play by their rules.
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 05/03/2004 05:22 pm
Garris - just an FYI - my site and others were back in the index for about a week last month and then were pulled back out again. We have no idea why. I really hope you are back in google permanently.
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qantumleaps
Joined: Dec 13, 2000
# Posts: 69
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Posted: 05/04/2004 10:16 am
I've just tuned in after a long hiatus and was intrigued at how long this thread has run. I fortunately avoided hooking up with Traffic-Power some time ago, when I found their so-called 'advertising' pages were just cloaked doorways and discovered numerous devious tactics in our course of discussions. In retrospect just looking at the caliber of their staff and staff photos should have been a red flag for me.
Anyway, at a search engine conference recently I cornered a Google executive and described in detail what these people were doing... and in the process was surprised that he hadn't heard about them. He told me they would investigate it thoroughly but don't know what action(s) they might take to help those duped by Traffic Power and had their sites banned. Pathetic thing is that they still get away with it since they're still able to show what appear to be amazing placement results... that is until the site ultimately gets banned.
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dpeddle
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 269
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Posted: 05/06/2004 07:43 am
we should build a site for fun... downwithtrafficpower.com or something....
All of us treat it as a pet project to rank for the term "Traffic Power" . That way when their 'potential' clients type in traffic power into the search engines... they will get the truth.
Put up some experiences....forums, etc..... and more importantly .....for us.... we could use it as a community project to show our aspiring seos how to build a site from scratch for ranking  . Everyone wins.
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Sinoed
Joined: Dec 11, 2000
# Posts: 5266
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Posted: 05/06/2004 09:24 am
This thread is #7 on Google.. I think anyone doing any research at all will probably run across it. Caveat Emptor.
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scottfla
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
# Posts: 354
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Posted: 05/06/2004 09:48 am
Too funny! I'll bet if the thread had a few well intentioned links (purely for the benefit of our visitors of coarse) with good anchor text....
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fsbb
Joined: Apr 22, 2004
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 05/06/2004 06:13 pm
If you are familiar with the World Organization of Webmasters; below is a link from them and thier site about Traffic Power:
www.joinwow.org/pressroom/03.24.03.asp
I m not speaking on their behalf, but I m just wondering how could a big company like Traffic Power continue to do this and get all their customers site banned in the past few years and not learn? Isn't that going to make them bankrupt soon? I don't think their management has no sense at all about this.
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scottfla
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
# Posts: 354
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Posted: 05/06/2004 06:46 pm
fsbb: Welcome to the forums. Regarding how people get away with it... It's the same reason that you get four calls during dinner from people offering a free cruise (unless you're USA and have registered for the no-call list). It's a numbers game and it pays.
While I had the trust of the rep I asked him how he got in touch with business owners. He said that they target PPC customers whose natural rankings suck (an eager market, already paying and haven't employed a competant SEO). You get enough clients, try to stay ahead of the game (Google seems to "fix things" programatically as opposed to individually)... They don't do anything to the "real site" so there's no real investment. I'm guessing, or maybe hoping, they have more than a couple of site networks for IBL's. Everything could be very fluid.
Maybe it's time for me to register for the no-call list.
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forgetmeknot2004
Joined: May 07, 2004
# Posts: 30
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Posted: 05/07/2004 10:17 am
Wow! It has been a while since I have been here. I did not realize that TP was still up to no good. Not that I ever thought they would have gotten better.
So I will start with all of the skeptical feelings that are rolling around in this forum. You all have every right to feel this way about this company. They are shadey to say the least! My breakdown is as follows:
Lets start with their method of "Optimization"
Optimization:
Yes, they have 80 doorway pages with mouse overs on them. The spiders read but the people never get to read it unless you keep your cursor off the page. If you review the source coding of some of the places that TP brings you to; you will see a series of links at the very bottom of the home page. Please be sure to note the MANY URL's that it refers to also because these are the link pools. I don't really care what they what to call them, the way I see it if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is a DUCK! Now the fun part is yet to come. Go to every single site listed in there until you come to "SUPRISE" another link pool URL.
This company owns well into 50 to 80 URL's packed with these link pools to all of their clients. The problem does not lay specifically in the doorway pages that they load onto your home page it lays with the MULTIPLE links that are wagoned with your site! This is why people get knocked off the Search Engines. There are porn sites, all of your competitors and a load of other sites that you WILL NOT WANT TO LINK BACK TO YOU listed on all the these URL's that ALL link back to you.
The doorway pages
Look at each and everyone of these and READ them. There are keywords in there that have nothing to do with what you are providing as a service or product. As a matter a fact there are words in there that lead you straight to placement in the porn sections! Hummmmm what a good thing to add to your professional site! You would have never had known unless you go and type in these words to see if they have placement in the more questionable sections of the Internet.
Now let us move on to their keywords:
You will NEVER get placement off keywords that are most common, for example if you ask them to promote a keyword like "daycare center" they will not be able to. They will send you some rediculious email telling you that it is not a good word to use followed by some BS excuse as to why. They reason "some" companies actually get placement is because they are using words that most people would probably not use to find you anyhow. Using the keyword above they will probably send you a suggestion like: "daycare center little people". I am exaggerating of course but it is similar to what they will send. Hey I can get you placement with those words too!
On to their referrals:
The referrals that they show you on the Internet when they call to "pitch" their sale are companies that are being paid to testify to the "greatness" of TP. They are getting free pay-per-clicks and massive marketing to make that specific company look good BUT it also has their promotion on it to fool you.
The BBB:
Yeah there is proof that they are "listed" with the better business bureau but you have to call the BBB in the area that they are located and request the breakdown of their complaints. They are there but they are NOT listed on the BBB site. YOU HAVE TO ASK FOR IT!
Their pricing:
They will start at large amounts of money and if you keep saying no they will bring it all the way down to 1200.00 for the year.
The SEE Pages
If you refuse to let them have FTP information they will create what they called a SEE page to me on the phone. This theory is most interesting. This is how it works from my point of view. You have them purchase a URL that they put the promotion on. Hummm??? Do you own this site?? NO, They do! There lies your catch. Say it does get placement? Then what? Then you have to pay every year to keep that placement or they will not register that domain name again or they will keep it for them selves and you will lose all that money you put into it! Oh and by the way THEY WILL NOT SELL IT TO YOU! Smart move!
Charging Back:
If you are some of the unlucky souls out there that did not realize that after 6 months you cannot charge back. That if you used a debit card you will have an even harder time! AND PLEASE TELL ME WHY PEOPLE ARE SIGNING CONTRACTS THAT SAY "NO REFUNDS" this makes no sense to me. You no nothing about this company and you are going to dish out 4000.00 to them and sign a contract that says too bad, if you don't get positioning then we just promot you until you do but you can't have your money back! PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS, READ WHAT YOU SIGN!
Now if you want to charge back you have to do the following:
1. Send a certified letter to the company requesting that they please credit your card, that the services that you have rendered from them has not been fulfilled and it is creating damage and negative effects to you company and its income. Demand a response "IN WRITTING" immediately and give them a time frame in which to respond to you.(TAKE NO PHONE CALLS FROM THEM, YOU HAVE REQUESTED IT IN WRITING AND THAT IS THE WAY YOU WANT IT)
2. If they have not responded AND YOU ARE WILLING then you go online to http://www.co.clark.nv.us/justicecourt_lv/smallclaim.htm to file a small claims court suit, if the amount was under 5000.00. Print the paperwork to file within this court and mail it with the 35.00 fee to file it. Now you only want to do this if you are willing to show up if TP wants to pursue it, (you will know because they in return have to file a response) you have to fly to Vegas. But when you place the suit then you can add the flying expenses into it. Also, be sure to include all of your documentation and explain the situation clearly. Enclose a print out of the "Google Guideline" (and all other search engines guidelines you can find) and all of the additional pages that they built for you. Also include a print out of all of the URL's you have found and be sure to look up their owners via WHOIS. Taking them to court is a fine line when it comes to the Internet but in the long run it is plain to see. PPLEASE NOTE IF IT IS OVER 5000.00 THEN YOU WILL NEED A LAWYER!
Telling them you have a lawyer will do you no good. They will fight you tooth and nail to keep that money because you agreed to their terms of "NO REFUNDS"
MY CONCLUSION:
You want good placement, here is how to do it. NAME ALL OF THE PAGES WITHIN YOUR SITE AFTER A KEYWORD THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PLACED UNDER AND META TAG IT CORRECTLY. USE THAT KEYWORD UP TO FOUR TIMES WITHIN THE TEXT OF THAT PAGE AND UPLOAD IT!
I hope that all I have placed here in this forum has helped everyone to stay away from companies like this. You want placement you should go to Google and work with them, you should pay for the 299.00 fee from Yahoo and get into their directory. You should submit yourself to DMOZ yourself and hire a company to do a mass submit for you so you don't have to. These are the best ways to promote your site. THE LEGAL WAY.....NO CATCHES!
Sincerely,
FORGETMEKNOT2004
[ Message was edited by: forgetmeknot2004 05/07/2004 10:41 am ]
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jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
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Posted: 05/07/2004 01:23 pm
FORGETMEKNOT2004: Great post - thanks so much!!! Any advise for us pour souls who are blacklisted? I have repeatedly emailed help@google.com to no avail. Thanks.
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