Google has blocked the German Web site for automaker BMW from its search index after it detected the site using spam techniques to raise its Google page ranking, it was revealed on Saturday.
The ban, known as a delisting, was reported on several blogs and confirmed two days ago by Matt Cutts, Google’s senior search software engineer. Under the terms of the sanction, a Google search for terms such as “BMW” or “BMW Germany” will not produce a link to the German Website, BMW.com.de. Users will still see a link for the worldwide Web site BMW.com and to nation-specific sites.
In addition, the Google Page Rank for BMW.com.de will be turned back to zero. Google uses Page Rank to determine the listings that come up first on a search results page—a highly desirable position, since studies show many searchers do not scroll down beyond the fourth or fifth link.
BMW.com.de is thought to be the highest-profile Web site to undergo delisting by Google.
According to Cutts, the German BMW site used a Web optimization tactic known as a “doorway page” redirect. By using the word “gebrauchtwagen” (“used car”) more than 40 times, the Web page was able to fool the Google search bots into thinking the site would be highly relevant to users in search of pre-owned BMWs. But users who clicked on the search link were automatically redirected to an entirely different page.
“That’s a violation of our webmaster quality guidelines, specifically the principle of ‘Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users,’” Cutts wrote.
While some of the offending redirect pages were subsequently removed from the German site, Cutts said Google will need information on who created the pages and assurances that they won’t reappear before it can consider including the BMW.com.de in its Web index.
Cutts said the move was part of a heightened initiative at Google to pay attention to spam Web sites in languages other than English. He said the company will soon take similar action against the German Web site for camera and office machine maker Ricoh.
