Call this one “How I learned to quit kvetching about spam filled blogs and actually do something about it,” courtesy of one blogger’s call to arms.
Hit them in the pocketbook.
That could be the rallying cry of Mitch Radcliffe’s post in response to the spam blog problem.
A post by Niall Kennedy on Google and Blogspot spam prompted a suggestion from Radcliffe to click the ads and not buy anything:
One answer to this problem is counter-intuitive. The solution to the problem it to click gratuitously and never make purchases on the links at blogspot sites and to keep doing so to drive down conversion rates. This likely will be interpreted as click fraud by the system and, if it isn’t, the advertisers are going to be so angry about the costs of these clicks that turn into nothing that they’ll drop the program or exclude BlogSpot from their placements.
The solution runs against the Google recommendation to click the Flag as Objectionable’ button on blogspot.com sites people find to be spammy in nature. Google certainly isn’t going to like a click-madly approach.
Even though the intense clicking would make the spam blogger money (unless the system thinks it is click fraud), Radcliffe thinks it will have the greater effect of creating pain for advertisers and Google. That in turn could spur the creation of a more effective solution to the spam issue.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
