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Pagejacking and Vanilla Ice
May 09, 2006
Word Pictures – Yeah!!!
I know they wouldn’t admit it, but I’m sure some of my friends say I have a slightly irritating knack for comparing things and noting similarities. I call them word pictures and it’s something I learned a long time ago in sales training. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t like or appreciate even a moderately good word picture. If you’re the first one, feel free to comment below.
Sometimes when explaining the intricacies of the world of SEO, I like to use word pictures. Technically stated, a word picture is defined as a graphic or vivid verbal description. Simply stated, a word picture explains something in a way that makes it easier to understand. When you hear someone say, “Let me put it this way…�, it’s highly likely that a word picture is about to follow.
If you’ve read some of my Wagon Posts, you can probably tell that music and SEO are two of my loves, thus the “musical SEO� posts and accompanying word pictures. Hey, it stays true to the “SEO Speedwagon� name coined by our very own quick-witted Link Building Director, Tom Lustina. Tom, I continue to salute thee!
And now that I can’t disappoint my adoring throng of readers (thank you, all six of you), here we go again.
Pagejacking
Plagiarism is a word that most people are familiar with. A much cooler, hip, web version of plagiarism is called pagejacking. Pagejacking is basically copying/stealing content or code from another web site and putting it on your web site with the intent of also stealing some of the other site’s traffic. The word “pagejacking� is a combination of “hijacking� and “web page�.
If it were me, I would have called it “pagelarism�. But, as usual, no one asked me. Sigh.
So, a pagejacker sees a page performing well at a search engine for a particular phrase they also want to do well for, they grab some or all of the content on the top performing page and copy it to their web page, hoping to also perform well at the engine. Sometimes pagejacking is exact copying and sometimes there is a minuscule change to tweak the hijacked page’s code or content, of course, in the pagejacker’s favor.
Pagejacking really caught fire with the Internet’s boom in the late 90s and is still very common today. In fact, when we perform our comprehensive site analysis of a web site prior to optimizing it, we spend much time investigating if our client’s site has any hijacked content on other web sites. We’ve seen some pretty wild cases of pagejacking over the years – even on Intrapromote’s web site.
In a 1999 case of what I’ll be kind and call “blaringly ugly pagejacking� which was settled out of court, one pagejacker found himself up against the FTC who charged him with violating the FTC Act. This particular case was of the variety mentioned above where there was one small change in the code which redirected the visitor to, let’s say, a highly undesirable site.
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for….the pagejacking word picture.
No, My Version Goes “Da, Da, Da, Da, Da-Da, Da-Da�
“It’s that extra Da at the beginning that makes it different!�
Those were basically the words of Robert Matthew Van Winkle, a.k.a., Vanilla Ice when asked about his music sampling of David Bowie and Queen’s song Under Pressure. He argued that one little note added to the beginning of Queen and Bowie’s version made his only hit Ice Ice Baby different than Under Pressure. There was no album liner notes thanking the writers or giving credit to the original song.
Today’s pagejacker is yesterday’s Vanilla Ice. As with the 1999 pagejacking case mentioned above, it has been long rumored that Bowie/Queen vs. Van Winkle was also settled outside court walls.
If you find the content you suffered Blood, Sweat, and Tears to create has been pagejacked, I recommend spending a few minutes reminding yourself that some of the greatest writers, both authors of book and song, have had their compositions copied.
Then, ask the pagejacker to remove the jacked content within 48 hours or they’ll find themselves "under pressure" from your attorney.
All posts by Doug Ausbury
posted by Doug Ausbury at May 9, 2006 10:27 PM
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Comments
I've read most of your "blogs" and think U are GREAT!! Can't figure out where you got ALL your talent tho... Wish I could take credit for it!!
Actually... all your team members are very good...
no wonder you are at the TOP of your field!!
Keep UP the good work...
Your devoted Mother
Posted by: Ruby Ausbury at June 25, 2006 03:43 PM