FIXED (implemented change 3/22): Known traffic exchanges redirected

1. 96

   PegCole17posted 11 years ago

   Is there a way to get rid of unwanted traffic sites that attach a link to our hubs without our knowledge? I try to individually monitor my hubs for suspicious traffic and have written two letters to the offender who has sent me 8 visits on one hub this week.
   
   Now HubPages has marked my hub with a Red Skull and Crossbones - VIOLATION!
   
   The hub in question has been targeted in the past by these same traffic vendors. This is not something I signed up for. They (Hits B ooster Pro- I won't glorify them with a link here) have added links to my hub in their site at their own doing. Now what?
   
   No joke!! I've written them several times and am doing what I know how to get rid of them again - YES! AGAIN. But this time it isn't working so now HubPages is penalizing me. Very discouraging.
   
   Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      What is the violation?  Have you checked to be sure the violation is tied to the site giving links?

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         psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         This.
         
         Check what the violation actually is by looking at the hub.  As far as I know, disreputable *incoming* links do not trigger a violation.  But I could be wrong.  In any case, check the violation statement, copy and paste it here.

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         1. 96

            PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, they do trigger a violation. This is exactly what has happened. The offending site has attached links to my article, thus generating traffic. I have sent emails and asked for the link to be removed, which is what fixed this in the past.
            
            I guess my question is why are they allowed to link here if they are a known traffic generator? What blocks should be put into place to protect us ALL? Should we each battle this individually on every one of our hubs?
            

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      2. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Wilderness, as I mentioned, this has happened before.
         The violation has been given as
         "receiving traffic from a traffic exchange".
         
         This is not the first time this has happened. I battled this exact issue on this same hub in the past. Through NO efforts on my part this site has jeopardized my account and my hub.
         
         Why are they not blocked in some manner above my own efforts to stop them?

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      3. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Wilderness,
         The violation is:
         
         "WARNING: This Hub appears to be receiving traffic from a traffic exchange
         
         HubPages prohibits the use of automated click and impression generating tools and does not allow traffic from sources that generate clicks or impressions such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, autosurf, interstitial display, and click-exchange programs. Your Hub may be unpublished as a result. If it is unpublished, it can not be republished until all such traffic has been discontinued for at least one week"
         
         
         
         Peg

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   2. 60

      Paul Maplesdenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You can disavow links to your website in Google Webmaster Tools; although this won't stop the traffic, it does tell Google that you do not want to be associated and can mean you avoid an SEO penalty, more information here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bi … er=2648487
      
      I would also recommend writing to team@hubpages.com explaining the problem and seeing if there is anything they can recommend or do.

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      1. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for the help. I've been trying the Google Webmaster Tools angle after your recommendation. Thank you.
         Peg

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         1. 81

            brianrockposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Hate to break it to you, but I don't see how Google Webmaster Tools will fix anything in this situation. The problem for your hub is the traffic that is coming from the traffic exchange. Whether or not Google recognizes these links, people will still be able to click on them (or follow them through the traffic exchange's automated script). Google can't possibly control what happens between a user and a specific website, so they can't stop the traffic from coming to your hub.
            
            I think e-mailing HubPages is a better option. There are technical things they can do to stop these visitors from reaching your hub. The question is whether or not they want to implement those steps.

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   3. 82

      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hey PegCole17!
      I'd email the team to let them know you're trying to block this, and rest assured that we've opened up a ticket to block traffic exchange traffic by referrer, as we know that occasionally, people get traffic from traffic exchanges without having actually asked for it.

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      1. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Simone,
         I can't find my response to you earlier. Thought I had already replied. Sorry for the delay.
         The team has been notified of this and I'm sure they will take care of matters. Meanwhile, I'll be looking over my other hubs.
         Thanks again.
         Peg

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   4. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      As Simone advised, if you have not done so, please contact us here:
      http://hubpages.com/contact_us/

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   5. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Just wanted to post an update.
      We have implemented changes to address traffic coming from exchanges.
      
      Logic has been added to redirect known traffic exchanges to this page http://hubpages.com/help/traffic-exchange

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      1. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Great going, Matthew! Thanks so much for the quick help. I appreciate it so much.
         
         Peg

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      2. 88

         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Wow.  That was quick work, Matthew.  Thanks - this one could really benefit us all.

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         brianrockposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Well that was quick. Good to know the team is that responsive...

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   SoManyPathsposted 11 years ago

   I have similar experiences with normal websites I control. It appears anyone can sabotage your work. I wish I knew ways to correct it quickly rather than take up valuable time.

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      PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, So many.

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3. 89

   Savio Dawsonposted 11 years ago

   Hi,
   
   People having links to your site and you being in violation are do different things.... Do you have reasons to believe that the reasons for violation are the links directing to your hubs itself? If you are not sure write to the hubpages support and they will clarify.
   
   Dealing with the links being directed to your site, I am not certain if that is a bad thing, unless the site itself is not fitting your standards, for some reason.
   
   All in all check with hubpages first about the violations and then you can take up the matter with this site later..

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   1. 81

      brianrockposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      In the original post, Peg said the links were coming from "Hits Booster Pro," which sounds very much like a traffic exchange site. And that's the problem. It's against the ToS to receive traffic from traffic exchange sites.
      
      It's not the links per se, but the visitors that come from that website which are a clear violation of the Terms of Service.
      
      If Peg didn't sign up for the site, then that's quite the conundrum. It would be very easy for someone else to sign up another website / hub for the service, which would allow for a simple and nasty way to sabotage someone's hub.
      
      I completely understand HubPages' concern for traffic quality (because this would risk our earnings from ads), but it seems that there's a better way to handle the situation. Rather than letting the hits go through and then penalizing hubs after the fact, it would be simple to check the referrer of a page before hand and send a 301 redirect to another page (maybe one explaining their policy on traffic exchanges) to anyone coming from an identified traffic exchange website.
      
      That would maintain the integrity of the traffic quality to hubs and protect Hubbers from nasty forms of sabotage.

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      1. 88

         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         And you may be entirely correct.  If so, I think WMT can help out.
         
         Or it might not be that at all.  It would be a shame to have those links that are producing traffic removed or ignored by google and then find out the violation was for some other reason.  I just don't remember ever seeing a post that HP was penalizing a hub for incoming links or traffic.
         
         Of course, if I were a part of a traffic exchange and got caught I don't believe I would be real eager to publicize it in the forums...which is a good reason to never see such a post!

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         1. 81

            brianrockposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Nope, WMT won't help. Peg confirmed above that the violation was for "receiving traffic from a traffic exchange." And like Paul said above, WMT won't stop the traffic - it only tells Google to ignore the link in its search algorithm when it calculates your backlink profile.
            
            In this case, the problem has nothing to do with Google or links; it has to do with traffic. People follow a link directly from the traffic exchange site to your hub. The link itself is probably hidden behind a log in, so Google may not even crawl the link at all.
            
            The WMT Disavow Tool is intended for spam links, and that's when it could help you. Let's say I were evil and blasted your Hub with 5,000,000 links with the same keyword. This could eventually lead to an over-optimization penalty. You would disavow these spam links to fix your backlink profile and (hopefully) lift the penalty.

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            1. 96

               PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, Brian. I was attempting to follow the Google Webmaster tools path but their report doesn't show the offending site within the links to this article. There must be a way to block unwanted sites from linking here? Certainly?
               
               I have already sent an email to the HubPages Team about this. I'm sure they will be of help.

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               1. 81

                  brianrockposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Nope. There's no simple way to block a website from linking to you. Think of the disavow tool as removing your name from the phonebook (do people still have those?). If someone gives out your address, there's no way to stop people from driving to your house and knocking on the door.
                  
                  HubPages could implement a solution. But it would require them to change the source code of the HubPages website.
                  
                  When you access a website, you send an HTTP request. This includes a bunch of information about you (your web browser, your operating system, and most importantly the REFERER - the website you're coming from). Let's assume that HubPages had a collection of blacklisted domains.
                  
                  When a user sends an HTTP request, the HubPages server could check the referer. If the referring website is blacklisted, the server would redirect the user to a page with no ads that explained the policy on traffic exchange websites. If the referring website was not on the blacklist, then HubPages would return the requested Hub.
                  
                  It's a very simple solution to implement. But it's a solution that can only be implemented with server side logic in the source code of the website. There's nothing we can do as end users.

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            2. 88

               wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, I see that Peg did verify that now, and also that Simone has replied from HP. 
               
               That puts it exactly what she said it was, and leaves it, as far as I can see, in HP's hands.  Certainly I don't know of anything Peg can do, anyway.

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      2. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I NEVER signed up for this offending site and have had this happen more than once from the same site.
         
         In the past they would say "There are no links 'at present' to your site" in answer to my email. This time, no response at all.

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      3. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I like this solution. This sounds like the way to go.
         
         Thank you.
         Peg

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   2. 96

      PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It is a violation for our hubs to receive traffic from a traffic generated exchange. That is the violation I'm being cited with here.
      
      The offending traffic generator site has attached links to my hub without my permission. I have asked them to remove the links. Now I wait.

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   3. 96

      PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There is evidence to support this particular site's involvement.
      
      Looking at the "Stats" for the hub in the past day, I had 8 traffic views from that site and one other view which came from Google.CA

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4. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   Okay, I stand corrected. Sorry.
   
   Trolls must love this, it would be a great way to harass a hubber.

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      PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Psycheskinner, for your thoughts.

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5. 60

   SoManyPathsposted 11 years ago

   Are you serious. so if you get a link from traffic exchange, you are getting penalized? what if it is social traffic exchange?

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      psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Adsense will drop accounts with this kind of activity--so it is logical for Hubpages to try to deal with it.

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6. 84

   WillStarrposted 11 years ago

   It seems to me that HubPages itself ought to be able to deal with such problems, rather than burden their writers.

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      aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'd be interested to know how HubPages could deal with this problem.  There is no way to remove the link from the site (after Panda various blackhat link networks were demanding money from people who wanted to have links removed).
      
      And I'm not sure if HubPages can block visitors from another site.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Brianrock above has explained how this could be done.  HP are listening.

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            aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Aaah I see it now.  Good!

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      2. 96

         PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Me too. AA Lite. I'm not sure what can be done other than a block or marking that company's link as SPAM. But what do I know? Not much! 
         This will be resolved now that the Team is aware.
         Peg

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7. 84

   WillStarrposted 11 years ago

   Ask and ye shall receive.

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   1. 96

      PegCole17posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yea! Isn't that great? Thanks for stopping by Will Starr. How are things?

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