So, what is “web pollution?” Well, it’s really pretty much what it sounds like. It’s pollution that is beginning to clog up the web with useless sites that are created automatically by computer programs. You’ve probably seen them yourself. For instance, if you do a search on Google or Yahoo or any of the major search engines, you will find these “web pollution” sites. They are essentially just collections of links to other sites — commonly referred to as web directories.
Now I don’t want to give directories a bad name. After all, there are many useful directories on the Internet as well. However, just like anything else in life, there are good directories and bad directories, or “web pollution” as I like to call them.
They are easy to spot once you have seen a few of them. They often have advertising links right at the very top of their home or index page. After all, that is the whole purpose of creating the site — it’s done 100% for the advertising revenue. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with creating a site to make a little money with — I do some advertising also and it sure helps pay for the web hosting and other related expenses. However, there is one big difference between genuinely useful directory sites and these “web pollution” sites I am talking about!
That difference is the content! Find one of these “web pollution” sites on the Internet and start going through their list of links. You will soon see many links showing up that are not related to the subject that the site is supposed to be all about!
I was recently searching for some information and came across one of these “web pollution” directory sites. I was searching for a topic that was quite innocent in nature and could very well be something that someone’s children might search for on the net. My surprise was that there were links that led to pornographic sites in among the directory of links that were supposed to be related to the subject I was searching for!
That’s the problem with these “web pollution” sites. They are created with computer programs that go out and do an automated search on the search engines and then just dump all the results out to create a new web site. In many cases it takes no more than 5 minutes! Then the creator of the site uploads the site and he’s online with a brand new “web pollution” site in about 5 or 10 minutes! He or she then moves on to another subject, say, model airplanes for example, and 5 or 10 minutes later a new “web directory” is born all about model airplanes! Well, somewhat about model airplanes anyway.
The problem, as you can see from our example with my recent search, is that the computer programs that create these “web pollution” sites just go out and search for whatever the web site creator tells them. So, when the program goes out and searches for the word “dress,” which happened to be part of the search I was performing, it grabs every page with that word and stuffs it into the “directory,” since no program has the smarts to actually read the entire page and find out what the subject of the page actually is. The program finds “dress,” and it has done its job as far as it is concerned!
How do I know so much about these kind of programs? I actually tried one! When I became interested in creating some web directories, I decided to search around and see if there was any software that would help me do that. I found this particular software that was selling for about $250 and decided to try it, since it had a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Now I admit I should have known better since this software was created by a well-known Internet marketing “guru” with the help of some computer guy he hooked up with. These Internet marketing gurus are just like all the other gurus out there — the late night infomercial gurus that will teach you how to trade stock and become a millionaire or buy real estate and sell it for amazing profits and get rich. It’s all pretty much the same deal. The question you need to ask yourself is this: If they have such a powerful method for making tons of money, why don’t they just follow their own advice and quietly make millions of dollars from the comfort of their own home instead of hawking their “systems” or whatever on late-night TV or on the Internet? I think you know the answer to that!
Anyway, I decided to try the software and see if it was any good. I put it to work building a few web directory sites (they were never uploaded to a “live” site, so they never saw the light of day, so to speak) on a few different subjects to see how they turned out. It took me about a minute to figure out that the program was garbage. Not only did it repeat a lot of the same sites in the directory over and over again, many of the links had nothing whatsoever to do with the subject I had intended to create the site about! Much like the porno “dress” story I discovered during my search. The creators of this software make all kind of bold claims (as gurus always do!) about how wonderful the software is and what “quality” directories it creates. Pure garbage!
They know they are enabling a bunch of people to go out and create these “web pollution” sites and degrade the quality of the Internet, but that does not matter because they are pocketing $250 from each new “web blaster” they help create. I like the term “web blaster” for the creators of these “web pollution” sites since they don’t deserve to be called “web master” like someone who builds a useful web site. They are simply sitting there, typing in a few keywords and clicking a mouse a few times to send their automated programs off to blast out another new web site. Why take the time to do it right when you can just have a program do it all for you?
That’s the difference between quality directories and those “web pollution” sites. You won’t find any irrelevant or non-related links in a quality directory. The reason these “web blasters” don’t end up with quality sites with links that are limited to the subject they claim to be all about is because it takes time and it takes work to sort through all the links and make sure they actually belong in the directory! Sure, search engines make it a lot easier than it once was, but you still have to look at each and every site you intend to put in the directory to make sure it is appropriate. And at the very least, make sure it is not a link to a porno site!
These “web pollution” directories are really getting out of control and I surely hope the folks that run the major search engines figure out a way to identify them and ban them from the search engine listings. I’m sure it is something they are working on and will eventually figure out. Good luck to all the “web blasters” when that happens. I think they will see their advertising revenue dry up rather quickly!
By the way, the creator of the software that I tried actually did refund my $250 when I told them what I thought of their software and that I wanted a refund, so I’ll give him a little credit for at least honoring that promise. If you happen to find this article because you are searching for information about web directories and are curious about the automated software I tired, feel free to get in touch with me and I will tell you exactly what software it was.
